In Another World
by LadyMarissaGarmadon
Summary: In another world, there was a child born with a great destiny, to defeat the dark lord, this time, it would not be his father, no, this is a world where roles are reversed and loyalties have changed; Lloyd Garmadon is to be trained and groomed to be a savior to the world with the help of his four sisters, together they will stop Wu and his four assassin boys.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay before we get started here, this was inspired by an AU prompt by "bizzarocole" on tumblr. I'm keeping some of the jist that was in the prompt but I'm throwing in my own stuff as well. So set up here: Wu is the one that was bitten but Lloyd is still the child of Garmadon and Misako you can expect fluff with them here and there, though I will not be focusing on their relationship as much... also, if anybody has a better title for this story please, feel free to give me one because I can't think of anything else...**

Garmadon tapped his foot on the stone ground, looking up the tree in the courtyard of the monastery and shook his head, arms folded, "Wu? Wu I know you're up there hiding…" the older brother frowned when the younger continued to ignore his presence.

"Just go away…" the blonde grumbled. "I thought Misako was expecting any day now… you shouldn't leave her side for too long…"

The brunette held his frown at the disembodied voice that belonged to his hiding brother, "Wu… just come down please… why are you always sulking?" He kind of knew the answer to that, not only did the older marry the girl that chose him over the younger; they were expecting a child together. "You know what… just stay up there if you're going to be like this… I… I'll be inside…" he turned, giving up.

* * *

"What's wrong?" Misako looked concerned at the frown that was on her husband's face walked into their bedroom, "Did Wu run off again?" she asked.

"No, he's just sulking… as usual…" he sat on the edge of her side of the bed, "As the days get closer, he becomes more like this it seems…" he rested a hand on her round stomach and smiled a little, knowing she was so close to a completed nine months, "But I will not let his terrible mood take my happiness away…" he kissed her large bump lovingly.

The expecting parents looked at one another as they felt their baby kick, something he was doing an awful lot of in the past week. "Maybe Wu will change his mood when he sees his nephew for the first time…" she thought out loud. "I hope so anyways…" she struggled to sit up, keeping a hand on her large belly.

She was quickly met with a kiss from her husband. "Then he will be the one to miss out…" his kissed her again. She made a small noise and both hands held her stomach. "… are you okay?" he asked her.

"Don't worry…" she exhaled with an uneasy smile and held a hand to his face, "I'll let you know when it's time," she kissed his cheek. "Now stop worrying so much about me, I'm pregnant, not a porcelain doll," she lightly smacked his shoulder with a chuckle.

"I can't help it though," he rubbed noses with her, laughing too now, "Just imagine when the baby's born… I'll have to worry twice as much for you both".

Wu was sitting on the roof that was right over their window, listening in although that may have been rude to hear a private conversation such as this. The younger brother pulled his legs in and rested his chin on his knees, "I should have married her… that should be my baby…" he mumbled. "…not Garmadon's… it's not fair…" he listened to them talk and could barely stand it whenever they showed affection to one another, let alone talking about their precious baby.

To top it off he came last with everything else as well; Garmadon learned Spinjitsu before he did, even Misako, Garmadon got the girl he wanted; he even had ability to use all the elements if he wished, unlike himself who just possessed light. "It's not fair…" he repeated. He looked down and frowned, "I bet if I got a hold of those golden weapons… then I'll get rid of my brother… then people will realize they shouldn't have kicked me around so much…"

_"__Garmadon!" _

He came out of his thoughts to hear Misako call the other brother's name but he didn't make a single move from where he was seated, knowing what her distressed tone meant for them. "Like they need me… like they ever needed me around…" he then jumped off from his seat to go do something else.

The brunette rushed right back in after he heard his name be called, seeing she was starting to panic, he didn't blame her, this was their first child, even he was nervous for her, but he never showed it on his face just so she would remain calm.

He sat at her side and helped her slide her wet pants off, "You're going to be just fine love," he caressed the side of her face which made her show a little bit of a smile at his touch. "If your water just broke, then that means he's coming soon… I promise it won't hurt for long…"

"Kay…" she nodded a couple of times, eyes watering, "I'm scared…" she started breathing faster again, whimpering as contractions hit. "Garmadon what if something happens and he dies?" she clutched her stomach, starting to imagine worse case scenarios.

He gently took her hand, feeling her start to squeeze it, "I'm scared too… but I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that doesn't happen…" he smiled, brushing her hair out of her green eyes. "Whenever you're ready Mimi…" She nodded again.

"I'm ready…" she choked out after a moment.

Wu flinched every time he heard her voice escalate into a scream. It was almost sickening to hear her in such pain and maybe a little more sickening to hear her screaming his _brother's _name for help. He made his was inside and was sitting in the hall in a similar position as he was outside minutes before.

"Garmadon! Oh…" Her free hand clutched the fabric of her long shirt, "Help me…" she sniffed feeling more pains shoot through her. "Please…"

"Come on my love… we're halfway there…" he gently encouraged her, feeling her hold on one hand tighten harder while he waited to pull their baby out. "You're doing amazing Mimi… Few more pushes and you're done… okay?" he unfolded the towel he brought in with him, "a few more and then I'll take care of the rest…"

She whimpered more before acknowledging him. "Okay…" she strained, continuing her labored breathing, groaning with every push and body wracking pain.

It was a bloody mess; that much he expected, but he didn't care because all he could do was look at the tiny baby screaming its head off as his father carefully wrapped him up in soft fabric, gently wiping the birthing fluids off his red face and head, almost deaf to the cries; he was happy he heard the noise most others would find obnoxious. "It's a boy Misako…" he smiled, looking up at her exhausted face. "You were right…"

"What… what does he look like?" she asked, on the brink of tears again as she struggled to stay awake, even though she was tired. He got up and walked around so he could sit next to her in the bed and show her, cradling the delicate life they made and brought into the world together. "He's beautiful…" she sniffed, taking him into her shaky arms as the infant finally started calming down and held him close to her chest, gently kissing the top of his head.

"You did all the work…" he smiled seeing the mother and child together. "I just helped in very end…" he kissed her temple lovingly as she looked down at their boy. "I love you so much…" he felt his own eyes start to water when the baby boy opened his own at last, "Your eyes…" he nuzzled the side of her face.

"And he's blonde like your father was…" she smiled more, leaning her head on her husband's shoulder. "You're such a beautiful baby…" she sniffed. Misako looked back, "Can we name him Lloyd?" she asked.

"I don't see why not… it's just fine…"

Misako kissed the baby's forehead gently, "My angel… you're finally here…" she sniffled. "Mommy loves you so much Lloyd…" She felt him squirm all wrapped up in blankets as she protectively held him in her arms.

Her husband rested his cheek on the top of her head, lifting a finger as his son's tiny hand went to grasp it, "Hi Lloyd… you're so perfect…" he cooed at the newborn. "I'm your daddy…" he wiped his eyes with his free hand. "I love you so much…" the infant weakly sucked on his finger. "I love you so much…" he repeated, crying more.

* * *

Wu grimaced hearing such loving words from his brother talking about his new nephew as he peered through the small crack in the door. He was about to come in, just to see, but instead, turned the other way to go in his room and probably go break something to get rid of his building up anger.

**Next chapter gonna be a doozy I think, for now, have the start of what will be regular baby fluff through this story :3 Oh and this will be a Friday updater ;) I know, I have too many stories going for me here... too bad, I need to get these ideas out! :D Just saying, I'm gonna make Wu really scary... or at least try to... **

**Thanks for reading! Garsako trash-AWAY! *jumps backwards and crashes into a table***

**~Mar**


	2. Chapter 2

It was dead silence when the infant was finally put down to rest in his little crib in the room that was joined to his parents' who were getting some much needed sleep after such an ordeal. Wu couldn't find much sleep after his rage fit however, and decided to walk around as he normally did when he couldn't sleep, eventually wandering into the new baby's room without much thought to it, not realizing it until he saw the occupied crib, drawing closer to his nephew.

He looked down at the sleeping child and grimaced again, feeling burning anger once more at the look of peace on the newborn's face, "You were supposed to be mine…" he quietly spat. "But instead you were conceived with my brother's DNA… I hate my brother… I would have married your mother if she wasn't blinded by your father's stupid and pathetic puppy like affection… and by this I hate _you_…"

Lloyd moved his head a little; having the look of crying again as he slightly opened his eyes. "My brother's a weak jerk… if I had the golden weapons, I could defeat him without any question…" he seemed to be talking more to himself this time. Lloyd opened his bright green eyes fully with curiosity that almost seemed to glow in the dark. "Nice to see your eyes belong to her…" he commented, but then something caught light and there was a gold spark amongst the emerald irises. Wu opened his mouth but closed it again, words getting caught in his throat.

"Hehe no way…" he shook his head. "I know what you are… I see what's now planned for me…" he looked up at the sky through the cracked blinds. "Nice move father… nice way to keep me in check but I'm not going to let this… brat take me down… my brother's child no less… you probably never considered I wouldn't care if he was blood family or not…" He had thoughts of ending the newborn's short life, stealing the weapons, killing his brother, and enslaving all of Ninjago right then and there. It felt good. "You and your father will be gone… and I shall see to that tonight… right now -"

Lloyd started whimpering rather loudly and he heard movement in the next room as whimpers escalated into loud cries. The older brother opened the door and blinked at the sight, wiping his tired, blue eyes. "Wu?" he frowned. "What… what are you doing in here at this hour?" he looked at Lloyd, raising a little arm which prompted the new father to pick him up to console him, not fully aware of the younger's intentions, "I…" he shook his head. "Never mind… goodnight…" he went to carry the baby into his room so he would let Misako nurse him but glanced back, an uneasy feeling in the back of his mind and he looked down, _"Did he cause you to cry my son?"_

Wu moved a little faster and shut the door, standing in front of it. "Wu? What are you doing?" Garmadon rolled his eyes. "Come on, he needs to eat and Misako kind of has to do it," he looked back at his son who started his whimpering again, squirming around more.

"No…" the younger brother darkly said, eyes glowing bright red in the dark. "You and that pathetic son of yours are going nowhere tonight…"

The older brother's eyes widened at the sight before him as he held his son closer to his chest, protectively as Wu locked the door and stalked towards his brother who backed up, arms around the crying baby he swore he would let nothing happen to. "Don't do this now brother-" he felt his back hit the wall, nowhere else to go now. His heart was pounding and Lloyd no doubt had felt it and sensed they were in danger.

"Don't call me that!" the blonde shouted furiously, blowing up at last.

Lloyd started his full blown screaming again like hours ago, all from the harsh tones and hunger and the two brothers heard the first doorknob turn, trying to open it so footsteps came around through the main hall. Misako leaned against the doorframe for support and looked at the sight before her, her husband and child backed into a corner by her brother-in-law. "What…?" she looked at Wu who was glaring directly at her. She felt more scared than she could have ever felt in her entire life.

"What do you want?" Wu hissed, bearing his now sharp teeth. She felt her eyes water at his words. Wu had always been coarse; but he still was nice to her before today, even when she married his brother, but after she discovered she was pregnant… he cut himself off from her altogether as time grew nearer and she showed more.

"Misako please… I… you need to get out of here… I'll protect Lloyd…" Garmadon tried to assure her from across the room while their baby cried on for his mother, wriggling an arm from his blankets. She wanted to march right in because she knew what was probably going on. He could see the heartache in her eyes as she wanted to just be with her baby like how it should be. "Just leave… right now…"

She then looked back at Wu who was still holding his angry gaze at her, "Maybe you should do as he says… like what you always seem to do…"

The warrior in Misako wanted to barge right in and maybe do a roundhouse kick on her brother-in-law for threatening her husband and child but she slumped forward a little, still exhausted from giving birth that day as she wrapped an arm around her abdomen. "Leave them alone Wu…" she weakly told him. "Don't you dare hurt my family…"

"_He _stole you away from me! That should be my baby… _not his_…" he snapped at her, making the light haired woman flinch. "But you turned your back on me like he did… I hate the three of you…" he stalked over to her. He was only around an inch taller than her but nonetheless, she couldn't do a thing no matter how big she talked her game.

"Stop it; this isn't you," she tried telling him through clenched teeth. "It's the venom in your blood from that stupid snake when we were kids, you leave Garmadon and Lloyd out this… you should leave me out of it too… I'm sorry you're hurt… but I made my choice… if you loved me… you wouldn't be acting like this… maybe you should have just told me how you felt if you were so desperate to love me… if you can't deal with Garmadon and I's marriage and baby then leave already!" she snapped at him at last.

"Out of my way woman," he growled at her, more intense than ever before.

"Why?" she challenged him still, wondering if he was going to leave them once and for all.

He responded with shouldering her to the side rather harshly, almost making her fall to the floor. She looked back at Garmadon with watery, green eyes and he quickly made his way to her side, an arm around her now as he helped her stand upright. "I'll… I'll handle this…" he kissed her forehead and gave her Lloyd who just wanted to be fed be kept safe instead of getting mixed up in family problems even more.

"Spinjitsu Master… don't let my husband be harmed… please…" she looked up and closed her eyes as she eased herself down into the rocking chair, lowering the sleeve on her loose nightgown and Lloyd quieted down immediately as she started breastfeeding him. She looked down and weakly smiled at him. "I not only need him… but so does Lloyd…"

* * *

Garmadon walked into the weapon room, hands behind his back, knowing this was where his younger brother would be, not packing his bags and leaving them all be. "Well… I don't think we should be touching those little brother…" Wu took the scythe down anyways, completely ignoring him, seeming to examine it. "Remember… we only should use them if we absolutely need them…"

"I told Lloyd you both were going to die tonight…" Wu smirked, looking at his warped reflection on the sickle. "Just before you came in… I suppose I was that ended up making him cry…" he looked behind him and then turned around, grabbing a shurakin. He abruptly flung the gold weapon and Garmadon went to duck and rolled forward, getting back to his feet. "So I'm going to… and then no one's gonna be in my way when I decide to enslave Ninjago! Your days of you and father controlling me are finally over!"

"I never controlled you! Misako and I wanted to help you! Even father maybe deep down though he had a lousy way of showing that kind of stuff… but Misako would stop you," Garmadon grabbed the gold sword in time to block from getting hit with the scythe's blade. "She wouldn't think twice of stopping you! A mother lioness would not let her cub be harmed without punishment…"

"Hmm… you're right… I'll have to end her too if she tried that foolish move of crossing me!" he threw another shurakin whose sharp blades sliced right through the fabric around the other's shoulder, and Garmadon felt the trickle of warm blood slip down his arm, staining the black shirt he wore. "She chose you over me! It wasn't fair! Why did you get her?! Why did you always get her!?"

"She chose whoever she wanted to marry! I took the time to be with her while you sulked in a corner, watching the two of us when you had a mouth that could speak… If she picked you I wouldn't have gone on an angry rage like this though!" Garmadon shouted back at the blonde. "If you loved her you would have accepted what she wanted to do! But you don't love her… you covet her…" he kicked the younger back to defend himself as he advanced on him. "You always coveted her…"

The younger brother had had it and Spinjitsued the older sibling through the wall. The injured brother felt his head pound as it hit the pavement after getting knocked through two walls, body aching. "I'll start with ending you…" Wu hissed as he stalked over, sandals clacking on the stone ground, "I was going to make you watch the death of Lloyd and maybe even Misako now… but now I see I should save the weakest ones for last…"

* * *

Misako nervously looked at Lloyd who was back in his crib then looked out the door of his nursery. Though still tired, she made her way out slowly, afraid of what damage the two brothers were causing by the sound of things. "My son… so innocently oblivious to all that is happening around you…" she wiped her watering eyes as she made her way outside.

Once hearing the walls breaking, she stepped up and moved as fast as she could, wondering who was winning the battle between brothers. Her heart was racing as she tried not to cry anymore, knowing that one was going to die tonight. _"Garmadon's strong… he's the stronger brother…" _But the venom in Wu's blood obviously could make him just as strong.

* * *

"You leave my son alone," Garmadon struggled to stand to his feet, body aching more from the hits he just took. _"Maybe I'm just a little too old now…" _The forty year old shook his head, trying to get his eyes to focus. "You will never touch that baby… you will never touch my Misako". He felt his words were useless though as he saw his vision go black around the edges again, almost afraid of meeting death for real. _"Keep going for them…"_

He fell to one knee and Wu kicked him back, dead center in the chest, making him choke out a breath, scythe in grip, "Goodbye Garmadon," he grinned, pulling his arm back and above his head.

"WU! NO!" Misako screamed bloody murder when she saw the raised scythe just about ready to be brought down on her defenseless husband. It was the moment of surprised hesitation where the kanjis on Garmadon's robe lit up, a bolt of lightning striking the pavement and the younger brother fell back when his older sibling's instincts of survival took advantage of the opportunity by doing a low sweep, taken by the darkness and that was that.

The two remaining stared with wide eyes, not believing what just happened in a mere flash of lightning after they came back to reality. Everything was so surreal as they stared at the sky that was now clear, then the ground that had nothing so much as a scorch mark. "I…" Garmadon heavily breathed, a hand clutching the fabric over his heart, feeling everything in slow motion, mind just catching up to what happened. "I…"

"Garmadon!" Misako found the strength to run out to the courtyard and collapsed to her knees and was hugging him tightly, choking on sobs as she shook with fear, "Garmadon…" she bawled, combing her fingers through his matted, dark hair.

He hesitantly lifted an arm around her, snapping back to reality, rubbing her back and closing his eyes as he buried his face in her shoulder and neck, kissing her face and head several times to reassure she was safe, "Misako… shhh…" he hushed her, trying to even calm himself down. "My love… I'm fine… I'm just fine… I promise you… shh… don't cry… please…"

From inside they could hear their son start to scream again and the injured brother found the strength to pick his sobbing wife up and carry her back inside. "Come… come; you should rest… you're okay… Lloyd needs us Mimi…" he gently spoke to her. "We shouldn't keep him waiting…" he quietly went on, looking back, haunted by the look his brother gave him moments before darkness took him.

* * *

"I'm going to kill them… I'm going to destroy that stupid little family… they are no more family of mine… I'll enslave Ninjago and no one will stand against me…" The blonde brother now with eyes burning bright red and skin pitch black paced around his new domain. "I'll take everything my brother loves from him… and the world will be mine!" he clawed the stone walls; leaving gashes in them they were so sharp.

* * *

Garmadon laid his wife down on her side of the bed and carried their newborn child in soon after and she clung to him tightly, not enough to squish but just enough to reassure the baby he was safe now from anybody harming him as his mother continued to sob, thinking of the outcome if Wu had killed him. He looked at her with a pained look as she shook with every sob, knowing she would lull herself to sleep which she most certainly needed now.

He shook his head, rubbing his eyes and wandering into his brother's room and stepped in more, then froze right where he stood in the doorway. Claw marks covered the thin walls and there was even blood splatters and a few knives and assorted dagger like weapons lying on the floor. The older brother swallowed, starting to shake a little when he saw what was carved in the walls amongst regular, plain looking slashes.

"Kill…" he mouthed and looked around at pictures out of their holder, strewn about the desk, some with cracked glass plates and the red bodily fluid leaking through, disturbed if anything. They were all pictures of either the three together or ones like his and Misako's wedding picture. "What have you turned into…" he breathed looking at the pictures covered in blood before abruptly dropping them with a clatter.

He felt a looming presence, like the embodiment of evil itself was right there next to him in the room. He shook his head again and rushed out of the room, locking it so his wife or anybody else would not be able to see such terrifying things and returned to bed with his wife and child though he was certain he would not get any sleep that night.

The blood red eyes in the darkest shadows of the room narrowed and disappeared once more without a single trace. _"kill…"_ Wu hissed.

**Oh gosh this was such a long one... and I couldn't really break it into two chapters... because ya know... it'd be hard to... as it is this is almost 3,000 words... it'd be awkward breaking it up... well I hope I gave you the heebeejeebies now XD It's how I feel thinking about Weeping Angels or Five Nights at Freddy's or Dementors or whatever... I'm always looking over my shoulder, paranoid...**

**So thanks for reading! Really appreciate! :D **


	3. Chapter 3

Misako mindlessly hummed to her infant son, a blank stare on her face anytime she thought about the incident with Wu which happened mere months ago which made her hug the baby tighter, like a natural reflex. Garmadon always watched her, heart aching at her trauma, the thought of Wu killing their only child, who was a newborn no less, let alone him and her as well.

Anywhere the two went she would protectively hold Lloyd close to her chest and rarely ever let him out of her sight, afraid to put him down for bed in his own nursery or even to be out in public with him in general. He knew that she felt a dark presence watching them and understood how scared she must have felt.

"Misako… Mimi…" Garmadon tried to take their baby from her tight arms. "Come on…" he looked her in the eye and she loosened up slightly, almost being aware of what she was doing. "I know you're still scared of Wu coming for him… but please… you must calm down… you haven't calmed down since it happened…"

She sniffed and nodded, "I know…" she held her face in her hands that were now free and then went to pull something out, "I found this Garmadon…" she opened it for him being his hands were now occupied by their son. "There's to be a green ninja… and he is to stop a dark lord…" she squeezed her eyes shut, "That's why Wu tried to kill him Garmadon… that's why he wants our baby dead…" She felt tears escape her green eyes.

Garmadon's dark eyes shifted down to Lloyd, sleeping while his parents were fearing for his very young life. "Oh my son…" he caressed his small head lovingly. "This is too much a burden for you…" he sighed, closing his eyes. "Not five months old and you have a destiny all laid out for you… my beautiful little boy…"

"He's like you I suppose…" she tilted her head, looking back down at Lloyd, "The power of all the elements in him… just waiting to be unlocked with time…"

"And no doubt Wu will try something to counter this since he knows… We must keep a careful eye on him…" he kissed the baby's forehead, earning a small whine as he yawned, slowly waking up again. "For now… I do not want you worry about him… it will take Wu much time to learn how to escape the Underworld I'm sure…" Lloyd shifted in the blankets that swaddled him. "I know you're afraid… but we will be okay… all three of us will be…" He wanted to tell her that he felt Wu was watching him, but once more, he didn't want to scare her anymore than she already was.

* * *

"My stupid brother… who stole the pathetic woman I once loved… and that special child of theirs…" Wu's shadow vanished from the walls of the place he once called home. "I'm going to escape, he is right about that," he smirked. "He's training his baby to be a ninja? Then I'll train my own to assassinate the runt before he'll even get the chance to pick up a weapon… no green ninja is going to be around to stop me!" he looked around the throne room, searching for an idea, "Samukai!" he shouted angrily.

The Skulkin came in, not too pleased with his new, big mouthed king that took much pleasure in bossing him around since he was beaten in a duel for leadership of the Underworld and Skulkin Army. "I am going to collect four boys' allegiance… and you're going to fetch them for me and bring them here when I tell you where they are…" The four armed general just bowed a little, accepting his pathetic job as the errand boy.

* * *

Cole sat against the house, staring at the clear sky, emptiness in his dark gray eyes. He felt just as empty as he was only eight and just lost his mother. The young boy felt lonelier than ever as he lost the only person that paid any attention to him and loved him more than stupid trophies. A shadow appeared next to him and the boy looked over at it with a frown.

"I am looking for boys of special talents" the shadow seemed to give a smirk at him. "And I felt much darkness in you young one… enough to be one of my four ninja assassins… what's your name?" He did already know the answer though, he came here because he was once friends with Rose, his mother, and what better way to take revenge rather than recruit children his brother already know?

"Cole…" the black haired boy slouched, not really intimidated by the shadow that was talking to him. "What do you want? How can shadow talk?"

"You will later… but if you accept, you'll be able to get away from this dull and horrid life you lead… and I feel you would like to get away from your father… am I correct?" Wu asked the black haired boy. "He doesn't care for you like the one you have lost recently…"

Cole frowned, giving some thought to it and stood up, facing the wall where the shadow and nodded, "Okay… sure… I'll go with you… being a ninja sounds far better than going back and dealing with my dad... where are you anyways?" he asked.

"The Underworld…" Wu chuckled. "A Skulkin, my general; Samukai will come for you and take you here… and then, your training will begin". He disappeared, "And now for number two…" he smirked to himself and went to seek out another boy he could easily manipulate.

* * *

"Nerd!" Jay sighed as he sat, balled up in the corner of the room. The freckled boy sniffed and wiped his nose on his sleeve. "Man… he's plain crazy… those robots and stuff he makes are jokes… an inventor… science stuff is for chumps," the kids laughed with one another as the small boy was left alone.

"Meanies…" Jay stuck his tongue out when they were gone though it was halfheartedly done. "I'm stupid…" he sighed, giving in to what they told him. He looked the little toy he was messing around with when the other kids were laughing around at him.

"Stupid is a silly word… try brilliant…" Jay jumped out of his skin, "Yes I have that effect on people," he pleasantly said. "I am Wu… and I see that you are better than the ones who put you down… I should know… I have felt as you did once… but I want to help you… what say you to leaving this life behind and train under me… you can perfect your creative mind and become a ninja assassin… what do you say young Jay?"

The sapphire eyed six year old sniffled and looked back at the shut door where the mean kids left through and looked back at the shadow, swallowing and nodding. He thought about his parents who really loved him so much, but they always told him that what the others said didn't matter, which didn't exactly do much help, he still loved them, but maybe it was time he took fate into his own hands and do something about himself. "Yea… okay… I'll go with you… only if I can get back at them too…"

"My, so ambitious to get started but yes, you can when your training is more advanced… I look forward to seeing you in the Underworld Jay…" Wu chuckled. Jay perked up at the word "Underworld", suddenly nervous about the idea.

"I'm not… I'm not gonna back down just because of that… no way…" Jay tried to calm down.

* * *

Zane walked past the other children that were ice skating and doing normal things, all bundle up in coats and warm clothing while he sat with a short sleeve shirt on, watching them from the benches. "Zane's kind of weird… don't you think?" some murmured to one another. "He doesn't do anything and he never looks cold… like… at all…"

The pale skinned boy looked away when he heard the kids who were not aware his hearing was very good. A hand grasped his shoulder and he perked up a little. "Zane… don't worry about them… you are happy with me are you not?" the black haired man that was his adopted father kindly smiled.

"Yes Tanaka…" Zane nodded a little with a small sigh. "I know…" he was left alone again, "But it would still be nice for others to not look at me like I am a freak…" he closed his eyes, feeling as though his adopted father did not quite understand what he went through since he was quite young.

"Ah yes… a loner… much like the last two boys I found… and like me when I was your age…" Zane straightened up and saw the shadow in the snow in front of him, looking around to see if anyone would be staring at him talking to a shadow now. "Leave this life behind and train with me… and you will show that what others say will not matter… be one of my ninja assassins young Zane…"

The small, blonde haired boy tilted his head and looked back, seeing his adopted father not too far away, feeling somewhat guilt but silently nodded. "Okay… I will go…"

* * *

Kasai ruffled his son's messy brown hair and smiled, "Okay Kai… I'll be back… remember to watch your sister," he bopped the seven year olds nose, making him giggle as he nodded. "Don't get into any trouble!" the blacksmith ran down the road to get into town.

Kai's little sister, Nya, had just turned six, and she loved her brother very much and followed him wherever he went since before she could walk. Both were in charge of taking care of their mother, Namiko, as she lay sick in bed, which was where their father was going, to buy her some medicine.

The siblings were downstairs playing around with toy swords, though Nya seemed to always knock his from his hands unintentionally. "Come on… try again," the black haired girl giggled. Kai sat down on the couch and shook his head. "Please? I let you win next time!"

The brown eyed brother rolled his eyes, "Maybe later…" Nya scuttled out of the room and left her brother all alone.

"Ah how siblings always seem to best you unintentionally?" Wu appeared next to the brunette as he did with the other three. "I sense the fire in you… you want to strive to be the best… but you have no one who is able to guide you properly it seems… you shouldn't be such a push over to a little girl… whether you love her or not…"

"She's my sis… I'm supposed to be nice to her anyways… Who are you?" Kai blinked.

"My name is Wu… I knew your father and mother… that last time I saw you; you were such a tiny little boy…" he went on, "But I want to train you to be a ninja assassin… what do you say my friend? I know the pain of siblings… and I want to help you be better than your sister… you'll be the best and you will show everyone that you are great."

Wu vanished and laughed to himself, four gullible boys who are so easy to manipulate into coming with him. He was hurt so many times he knew all the weak points to hit for them.

* * *

Nya peered from the next room over, scared as she listened to Wu talk to her brother, enticing him to go to the Underworld and being an assassin. Kai nodded and she felt terrified all the more, not knowing what to do, she waited for the shadow to disappear and she snuck out of the house by herself, knowing just where to go being she heard her mother and father talk about it all the time.

"I have to get to the top of the mountain…" she whispered. "…Mr. Garmadon will help… daddy says he's smart and always knows what to do…" she mumbled to herself.

* * *

A small knock came to the gates of the monastery and Garmadon frowned as he walked over, wondering who it would be at a late hour to come see him. He opened the heavy, wood doors to see a small girl with raven black hair and familiar brown eyes. He looked rather surprised at first but smiled and crouched down to see eye level with her.

"Nya Blackman?" he cautiously asked, raising an eyebrow at her. She quickly nodded and he broke into a wider smile, hugging the small girl who hugged him back, "Oh my… the last time I saw you… oh you must have been… what? Three? Not even… Do you remember me?" she nodded quickly. "Are you here alone?" Nya just nodded, unable to speak it seemed. He sensed the obvious and invited her in. "Come quickly… something troubles you sweetie…" she quickly trailed behind him.

The little girl hopped up the wooden steps and through the sliding doors, eyes still wandering around the new place with curiosity. "Misako…" she heard him say and saw the woman by that walk out with a tiny bundle in her arms. "Kas' daughter… Nya… she came up here all by herself…" he looked back at the tired little girl, "Nya, this is my wife, Misako," she had passed the bundle into his arms, "And… my son… Lloyd…" he looked down. Nya smiled a little more, "But come on, what's wrong that you would run all the way up the mountain to see me? You must be exhausted…"

"A shadow was talking to my brother," she whispered, looking around, scared, feeling that he was going to come back and kidnap her. "Kai said he would go to the Underworld be a ninja… but… ninja are good; right?" The two were quiet. "Right!?" she asked more afraid.

Misako gave a rather traumatized look at her husband and put an arm around the swaddled baby. "I knew…" she whispered while shaking. "I knew he wouldn't sit by and wait like you told me…"

"Misako please," Garmadon looked back at her, allowing her to hold young Lloyd like a human safety blanket. "Nya…" he gently touched her cold face, "I'm sorry to say that if your brother has accepted… we are in trouble… I know this scares you greatly… but we must tell your parents and help to keep your brother from doing this… okay?"

"Yes…" she quietly said, looking down, holding her arms around herself.

"Then come," he offered to carry her, since she looked quite tired from her run up all the steps. "We're going down right now." He looked back at his wife, "You too, I don't trust with everything that's going on to leave you and the baby alone here". He felt Nya huddle closer to him in his arms.

"Of course," Misako nodded and went to grab her coat to leave with them. "Come on Lloyd, we're going to be just fine…" she quietly cooed at him.

* * *

Kasai opened the door, a distressed look on his face and Garmadon knew it was too late to do anything about talking to Kai. "Garmadon?" his eyes widened. "I…" he looked at Nya in his old friend's arms, relieved, "Oh Nya… I was worried sick… I at least know you were in good hands… is your brother with you? Because I can't find Kai anywhere…"

Garmadon sighed and shook his head, "From what she told me… Kai's in the Underworld… and accepted to be trained by my brother there… I'm sorry Kasai; I don't think he'll come back anytime soon…"

The black haired man covered his face with one hand and leaned on the door frame at the dark and terrible news of his only son, "Come in… please… I haven't seen you in a while anyways… and I want to know everything that has happened over the past year…"

They were quietly explaining everything from Wu's distancing, the birth of Lloyd, and the same night where Wu attempted to murder them because Misako married Garmadon and Lloyd being the green ninja who was destined to stop Wu from wreaking havoc on Ninjago.

Nya sat on her dad's lap, listening to the adults talk, she was stiff and more terrified than ever before at the story and from the way Garmadon was talking; he knew how she felt as well at losing a brother. "So… Kai bad now?" she suddenly asked, bringing the three adults out of their conversation.

"At heart maybe not… Wu has become more and more manipulative over the years…" the brunette shrugged, not really knowing what to tell the small girl and looked back at Misako and the baby. "If… you don't mind…" he looked at Nya, "You're one of the fire and water descendants… your father's side for fire and mother, water of course… you could… have unique powers trapped inside you…" he glanced at her father. "And I think you would gain a lot from learning it…"

Though directed at Nya, the question was for Kasai who slowly nodded as he talked, seeing what Garmadon was basically asking if he could take Nya in as a student, "Yes… I trust you to keep her safe and not just train her… but well… raising her… I trust that you can get my son back and keep Wu locked down there forever…" he looked at his daughter who was hugging him. "It would be an honor to have you both train her".

Nya looked back at the two and smiled a little, feeling a little more hopeful, they seemed like nice enough people and they were her father's best friends. She wasted no time and hopped down to grab her little backpack in her room, grabbing everything she wanted to take with her and stood at ready attention, the others chuckled at her determined face; she wanted to get this ball rolling. "I'm ready!"

"You certainly look like it," Garmadon helped his wife up and looked to Kasai, "We'll take good care of her… and I have a feeling she'll be a good older sister to Lloyd… maybe like the daughter we never had…" Nya smiled a little more proudly at the compliment. "Alright… let's go…" he sighed and started out.

"I hope Namiko feels better," Misako looked back at Kasai, "We'll visit soon… with better news. I'm sure Nya would love to visit her parents naturally."

"Yes… that would be nice…" Kasai gave a small wave before he shut the door once more. "My son… an agent of the dark forces…" he shook his head.

**This was actually two chapters in one but chapter 4 was so short I decided to keep it all in one. IDK I just love the idea of Garmadon and Nya getting along so well. He was pretty much the only guy to stand up and say that she had just as much potential as Kai or the boys... same with Misako and Wu I always thought it be cute if they all were like her parents since hers were dead on the show, or at least like grandparents or the cool aunt and uncles XD... Wu as well of course but in this he's evil so yea... she's not so crazy about Wu right now XD**

**And guess what? That means more little Nya and Lloyd together! Yea that's right people because they were just so darn cute in Falling Inside the Black and you all know it. So I'm torn between elements... I LOVE the idea of Nya having fire powers... but I also thought if she does become a water ninja, that would be really cool too! So I may do some kind of combination thing because Nya needs more love and to be special...IDK... what do you guys think?**

**So thanks for reading! I have some doodles I plan on posting (soon hopefully...)**

**~Mar**


	4. Chapter 4

Nya looked in the crib at little Lloyd who was now asleep. She had already been living at the monastery for almost a month and she quite enjoyed it despite living away from her parents and real home. "I have a brother… he's older…" she quietly was talking to him. "And he always said he'd be around and protect me because he was older than me…" the infant turned his small head, "But now he's not here… so I'm making a promise to you… I'm going to be your big sister… and I'm gonna help you when you get big and start training too… I'll do the protecting!"

Misako was on the other side of the door, looking down and smiling a little at Nya's kind words to her son. She turned the knob and entered, almost startling the little girl. "Hi…" she held her smile. "What are you two talking about?" she leaned the crib railing, looking at her baby boy.

"Nothing…" she quietly mumbled and trailed off. "…I'm the youngest… so I never get the chance to… I guess be the older sibling…" she gave a half smile as Lloyd opened his emerald eyes as he woke up from his nap. "He's cute…" she giggled when he looked up at the new and kind face, giving a bit of a toothless smile at her. "How old is he anyways?" she asked.

"About six and half months…" she saw his hands start to clench and unclench and let him grab hold of her finger to occupy him. "I love him so much… and it makes me so upset to know he'll be trained to save the world and have a chance of being killed in a fight," she wiped her eye that started watering. "Garmadon's brother was a jealous man… the night that my son was born… he tried to kill him… and he's training your brother to do it now because he can't make it out of the Underworld to do it himself…"

"NO!" Nya piped. "I never want Kai to kill him!" she pointed to the baby. "He…" she swallowed. "He wouldn't… he couldn't…"

Misako chuckled sadly and picked the infant up, "I know you'll do everything in your power to help my son," she held a hand to her face, "You're a lovely little girl Nya. Garmadon and I always wanted a bunch of kids… but sadly we weren't able to… Lloyd was a miracle for us but if we did have a daughter… I'd want her to be just like you," she saw the little girl blush fiercely and she laughed little again, a little more happily this time "so… you've been here for a little while… what do you think so far? Learning to be a ninja like this?"

"I like it here," she started walking alongside the woman with the long braid. "I guess… I find it fun…" she shrugged with a happy smile. "I like Garmadon…"

Misako chuckled, "Well he was graced with being a good teacher it seems. Did you know he was the one that taught me Spinjitsu too?" Nya looked up with wide eyes. "Oh yes, his father trained a bunch of us… but Garmadon was the first to learn… and then he taught me his little secrets," she explained. "We were just children… but do you know what?" Nya shook her head, "It's children that can do the most amazing things… you have a strong spirit… you know how to control yourself and when to let your anger fly… you don't even realize that yet…"

Nya was silent, she never really thought of it all before. "I better go on outside…" she hurried down the hallway and out of the open doors.

Lloyd reached a small hand up and started whining. "You like Nya? She's your big sister, of course you like her," Misako cooed at Lloyd who seemed happier than normal, bouncing him gently in her arms. "You are such a happy little baby, aren't you?" she chuckled as the infant smiled more at his mother she let him grasp her hand and planted a kiss in his forehead tenderly.

* * *

"So… what's your issue?" Cole looked at Kai who was the last to be brought in. The brown eyed boy blinked at the question, "My mom died and my dad stopped caring about me, Jay gets kicked around and bullied for being a nerd, and Zane's just an adopted weirdo who is like… immune to the cold or something… so not even his own parents wanted him because he's weird… so what about you?"

The other two looked at Kai, waiting for his little story as well.

"I'm never gonna be good enough… my little sister shows better potential than me in everything and my dad thought she should be taught the family job over me… so I'm going to do what I want and not what my parents want…" Kai answered the three in black ninja suits sitting around a throne room a little casually for how he really felt about it all. "Where the heck is this guy?" the seven year old snapped, looking around the dark room.

"Oh I was right in picking you four… you're going to be perfect!" A dark figure stepped into the throne room. "I'm the one who invited you here… I'm Wu… and I'm the king of the Underworld". He gave a sly grin at the four boys who were staring at him with wide eyes. "I know; I must look like a horrible monster…" he talked on, "So who's gonna back out because they're scared?"

The four stayed where they were and Wu nodded, "Good…" he stopped walking at the base of the steps that led to his throne. "Now… there are four of you… and I know that in each of you is one of four elements… my father foresaw these chosen ones and you are them… and the elements are yours to control if you listen and learn…" He took a seat on his throne and raised a hand, "Okay… you want to be my assassins… come over and assassinate me… there was a weapon's rack over there and I see some of you must have taken some weapons when I wasn't looking… good job so far."

The four looked at one another and Zane started, Wu was already impressed with the speed of the pale skinned boy who skillfully threw a barrage of shurakins he kept hidden in his sleeves but naturally, Wu was prepared for something like that and used his power to raise a reflective shield. "Well I'm impressed… then again… an old friend of mine adopted you did he not?"

Zane stood and nodded silently, seeing he couldn't land a hit and it was just a test.

"Nice well then; ice ninja…" he pointed to Cole, "Earth," he looked at Jay," Lightning…" he then turned to Kai, "fire… those are your elements… I can see you four being the greatest warriors of all Ninjago… there is no turning back now at this point…" he stood once more. "You each will have a weapon you will get use to, Cole will use a scythe, Kai a sword, Jay, nunchucks, and Zane will use shurakins".

The four stood in a line up and nodded and looked back at the four weapons that were left on the rack, gingerly picking up their own respective weapons like what Wu said. "So…" Cole looked at the scythe. "I guess we're going to be kicked around… I'm ready for it". He smirked, almost excited by this new event in his life. "Being an assassin sounds cool…"

Kai looked at the reflection of his eyes on the sword her had. "Yea…" he thought of his little sister and wondered what she was doing right now.

* * *

Nya swiftly moved through her forms, memorizing them only after a few short months of her being trained as a ninja. Garmadon sat on the deck of the dojo as he watched with smile on his face. She looked completely focused without a trace of doubt as she stepped, twirling and moving as he would put it; like the flow of water.

"Alright Nya, you don't have to go through them again," he called over to her. The younger girl stopped, standing upright with her hands at her side and nodded. He enjoyed having her live with them. Like Misako had told Nya, he always wanted more children, especially a daughter besides his son and he was lucky Kasai allowed her to be here. "Doing well… think you can handle the training course yet?" he asked.

"Maybe if you showed it to me again…" she gave an uneasy look at the idea, mindlessly rubbing her nose. She only tried once and it didn't go so well being she almost broke her nose flying into a wooden pillar.

Garmadon nodded, "Fair enough Nya," his eyes followed her as she sat at his side. "I know you miss your brother… but don't worry… if he truly is good at heart, I feel he'll come back to you and your parents… he might just need… well some sense knocked into him… and I kind of mean literally."

Nya laughed at his comment and grew silent again. "My element… you never told me what it was… is it fire like my brother and dad?" she asked, short legs swinging off the ground. "Or… is it something else? It'd kind of be cool to know."

"I'm not certain but I sense a more… controlled spirit in you… fire is… rather reckless. Trust me I carried the sword of fire for a while when I was younger and fought in wars, but I think you'll be a little more unique compared to Kai," he ruffled her black hair. "Come… let's go inside for a little bit… I should check on Lloyd anyways…" he helped her to her feet and walked inside together.

Lloyd was fidgeting around in the crib but lit up when his father walked through the door to see him, "Hey buddy…" he gave a genuine smile. "I know, mommy will be back soon," he lifted the eight month old, rubbing his back gently, kissing his head. "I'm so sorry for everything that is happening Lloyd… I somehow… think this is my fault. Then again… your uncle was probably going to end this way anyways; and where would I be?" he looked back at the tiny infant, "If I never married mommy, I wouldn't have you…" he rested his son in the crook of his arm and walked out to go be with Nya as well.

Nya looked and quickly ran over to see Lloyd who she definitely grew fond of over a very short time. Lloyd had grown quite accustomed to having Nya around all the time. He would quickly brighten up more whenever she would sit with him or talk. "So… he's gonna have all the elements?" she asked, looking up at Garmadon.

"Yes… like me… like his grandfather…" the brunette nodded. "I'm sorry to say that I'm ashamed that he will be like us… destined for a terrible fate to stop the forces of darkness… you'd never believe it, but I never wanted that for him…" Lloyd started dozing off again while sucking on his binky. "But I'm here to make sure he won't be killed… that he will succeed… and now you're helping my job as well," he smiled at the now seven year old girl.

Misako finally entered the dojo, setting her bags down on the table, but looked rather upset. The two looked up and she shook her head, "Kai wasn't the only one… Tanaka… he had an adopted son named Zane who was gone… and Rosie and Lou's boy… and Ed and Edna's son…"

Garmadon lowered his head and Nya looked up, worried for him. "Did you know them too?" Garmadon nodded. "I..." she sniffed, feeling sorry for the other families who had their boys deceived by Wu. "I'm gonna try the training course…" she hopped off the couch and went outside, wanting to master her Spinjitsu tornado, hoping she would be able to help more in some way.

"Wait for me…" the sensei passed his child to his wife and hurried outside. "I'll show you… okay?" he held the girl's hand that she offered up as they walked across the courtyard to the beginning of the course when the switch was flicked.

Misako walked them with a heavy heart. "Nya and you won't be enough Lloyd…" she frowned. "I wonder…" she bit her lip and turned to get the phone. "Crevan has a daughter around Nya's age…" she thought out loud as she dialed the number.

On the other end, the bearded man picked up, "Hello?" he answered. "… Misako? Oh it's good to hear you again! My brother told me about his son… oh you know… yes… I'm upset too about it all… Wu!? Really!?" he wiped his eyes, more upset to hear that it was their old friend who had done this.

"Yes…" Misako balanced Lloyd on her hip carefully. "But… I know we talked about Seliel being… unique…" she swallowed, "Kas' daughter is here with us… she's training to be a ninja but… I was wondering if Seliel… could she… I know your family's in the lineage of the smoke master so…"

"Ah… I see…" Crevan slowly nodded, understanding what she was calling about. "Since her mother died… I don't know Mi… my little girl… she's all I have left here… even Tanaka moved back in and I don't think he could part with her too…" he looked at his fuchsia haired daughter run around with her dog, in the backyard, pretending to shoot magic from her hands and laughing. He let out a long sigh, knowing what the right thing to do would be. "Okay… I'll talk to Sel and we'll see you soon Misako," he hung up.

Misako smiled and looked at Lloyd, "Another old friend… If you like Nya, you'll like Sel too…" Lloyd started whining again, "Okay baby… come on," she walked into the nursery.

Nya stood; watching her teacher go about the course like it was nothing to him. She tilted her head, if someone tall like him could do it; then a small girl like her could too. She jumped in head first and was actually doing okay with it, though she lost balance and was a few seconds too slow, getting knocked out by the flying dummy. "Ow…" she groaned a she wiped out on the pavement, feeling the wind get knocked out of her. "Did I beat my record?"

Garmadon chuckled and pulled her to her feet, "Not bad compared to your first round," he complimented her. "But it takes some time… and then you'll have it all down. Nothing to be ashamed if you can't get it right the first time". She nodded, understanding. "Keep going through it if you would like… I need to do something…" he wandered into the nursery. "Who did you call while I was outside?" he asked his wife. "I know you did my love".

She looked up from her son whom she was nursing. "Don't lie to yourself in thinking our little boy and Nya will be enough to stop Wu…" she looked out the window. "I called Crevan… what with what happened to Tanaka and his son… Seliel is in the smoke lineage… she's coming here as well… I didn't think you would need time to think about it… how did you even know?"

"Sixth sense I guess," he tapped the side of his head. "So… little Sel Fugiyoka? Strong girl, it should be fun for Nya to have another girl her age to play with…" his expression turned into a chuckle and he glanced back at his wife, "Strange isn't? This place was once a home for people who did not have one or who sought for a greater purpose for themselves… run by my father… and I suppose I'm doing the same thing now… aren't I?"

Misako nodded, "You're a good man Garmadon… stubborn as hell… but you are. I'm happy I married you," she rested her head back, closing her eyes and lifted a hand to hold his. "I'm just really scared at what's to come for us all…"

He knelt beside the rocking chair she was in as he continued held her hand, "I feel so much guilt whenever I look at Lloyd… but we can't change anything… we can only prepare…" he gently kissed her on the lips. "I should get back out there… make sure Nya didn't knock herself out or something… she's stubborn herself…"

"Who better to be your student?" Misako laughed as he shut the door behind him.

* * *

"I'm the best!" Cole shouted as his and Kai's blades clashed in their spar. "Earth is better than fire any day!" the older boy tried to pin the brunette to the floor.

"Hell no! I can burn everything to a crisp if I wanted!" Kai growled back and pouncing on him next while Zane and Jay watched silently at their argument and challenge duel which looked more like Wu pitting animals against each other instead of boys.

Wu watched from the shadows, impressed with their training so far, how they immediately had competition between the four of them to be the very best which was just what he wanted to see them do. "Brother… you think you are so wise and good… but you will never stop these four from carrying out my bidding… so young and they have such a killer instinct now… maybe they can even overpower _you_…" he darkly chuckled.

**Once more... had to combine two hella short chapters... when the hell do I write this stuff? At two am? Wait...**

**Nyyyargh Lloyd and Nya being cuties ;-; Oh my gosh Wu you need to get like child services because you are a bloody awful parental guardian... oh and you technically kidnapped them... **

**Thanks for reading :D And yes Seliel is comin in next chapter ;)**

**~Mar**


	5. Chapter 5

"I am impressed with you all so far… you have exceeded my expectations with your training so far…" Wu leaned on the armrest of the throne lazily. "It has been full year and now I think you have earned the right to know the secret to learning Spinjitsu…" he smirked when the four kneeling boys looked up with wide eyes. "It won't be an easy task though and it could take years if you don't take this seriously… however you won't be fighting a training course as I have learned it with the people I once called friends… no; you'll be fighting them".

The four looked back to see a bunch of the Skulkin army warriors their master was pointing to, ready to take them on it seemed. The four in black stood up and nodded, ready to prove they were the strongest and worthy to be an assassin to the dark lord as the drew their preferred weapons with eager smirks on their young and pale faces as they raised their weapons.

"I got a bad feeling about this one," one of the foot soldiers directly under Samukai, called Nuckal, leaned over to whisper to his friend Kruncha, nervously looking at the four young assassins with a desire to smash something burn in their pale eyes.

"Who cares? I'm gonna tear those boys apart if they get anywhere near me!" Kruncha growled, raising his rusted axe. If there was one thing the Skulkin actively hated, it was Wu's four students being they were horrible little monsters who always played pranks and screwed around with the whole army for laughs.

* * *

Nya and Seliel stood at the start of the training course, side glancing with playful smiles, knowing this was their final test to see who would learn the ancient art first. The two were quite the best of friends now though had the light hearted competition between the two to complete the course in a faster time than the other since both had come so close to making a tornado of their own. Garmadon quickly recognized it being he and his brother shared the same feelings of sibling competition when they were their age.

They looked across the way at Garmadon, who was sitting cross-legged, young Lloyd in his lap to keep watch over while his wife was inside resting, "Okay my lovely students…" he addressed to the seven and eight year old girls. "Finish the course before I finish my tea… and you pass," he smirked. This was his own game, every time they would attempt, they would have to beat against the "clock" if they were to officially pass, they came close many a time but he just wanted to see them master his art.

Nya started first, closely followed by Seliel as they ducked and tumbled around, getting farther than they ever had yet on the course in this time. "Gonna pass you!" the pink haired girl was gaining as Nya was caught on the spinning center piece. She ducked and jumped, tripping off and spinning in a cool blue tornado that looked to be made of water that materialized around her small body, spinning out on the stone floor, dazed.

"Whoa… what happened…" her brown eyes bugged out a little as she shook her head, holding a hand to it.

Garmadon had rushed over to her side, carrying his son, helping her up with his free one, though he was concerned if Nya wasn't hurt, he looked a little excited, "Nya… you did it," he told her. She stared and he nodded. "Go take a rest… you look a little banged up… Seliel, nice job too, you should also take a break before going again".

The other brown eyed girl smiled and trotted over, ready to start asking Nya how she was able to do that. "It kind of just happened in all honesty…" Nya shrugged a little. "You looked like you almost did it too".

Seliel rolled her eyes, "Now you're just being nice… I wish you knew how to do it so you could show me…" she puffed. "It looked so awesome to see you fall into it!"

"Oh come on, you were close! I'm not just being nice either… you're my sister and we shouldn't fight or anything…" she looked around, "You know…like Garmadon and his brother did… so let's go play with Lloyd!" Nya grabbed her friend by the hand and they ran inside where Garmadon had sat the baby down. "Hi Lloyd," she waved a little. The seventeen month old seemed to light up at the sight of the girls and gave a happy smile, holding his tiny hand. "I learned Spinjitsu today! We can't wait to teach you too when Seliel and I really master it!"

Seliel giggled at the way Lloyd and Nya were like siblings. Even she felt a part of the family now. She was an only child so this was a good different for her to have people who called her sister, like Nya. Lloyd looked at Seliel and reached a hand to her and she giggled again to take it. "You're gonna be the greatest elemental master of them all I bet…"

Garmadon looked back at the occupied girls who were playing with his little son and gave a small smile. _"They both are strong spirits… they will become just as great as Lloyd… and any other student I may take on…" _he turned back to walk down the hall, frowning again because he couldn't shake this feeling his brother was making plans against him. _"What are you doing now brother…? What have those you took becoming?"_

* * *

The four boys stood amongst the mangled up Skulkin warriors strewn about the room in piles. Wu gave a slow clap as they turned around and bowed. "You four are now the dark masters of Spinjitsu… congratulations… really". He sat up straight in his seat, more serious than before, "I now I think it is time for your first mission boys…"

"Master?" Cole asked, wondering what that would mean. A mission right off the bat? He must really have trust their new abilities being they still were pretty young.

"You will go to the monastery tonight and steal the golden weapons… and…" he paused, "You will murder the boy with the green eyes… he is destined to be my downfall and I do not need him messing my plans up anymore than he and his father had already!"

The four bowed, "Yes master!" the stood back up and started out of the room to carry out their first orders.

"But…" he stopped them before they left, "The boy's mother… let her know I will kill my brother with my own hand for her to watch… and whether she likes it or not, she will be mine… I want fear struck in my brother and her… I want them to know I will win this game they're playing with me…" the four glanced at one another but nodded all the same to his instruction. "Now go on to your chambers to ready for tonight…" he waved his hand, dismissing from his presence and the four did just that.

"A boy with green eyes…" Cole frowned, thinking it over while sitting on his bed. "Who do you suppose that would be? Did master not say that the monastery belonged to his older brother? This must be his son… the woman naturally must be the brother's wife…" The ten year old leaned on the heel of his hand thinking out loud. "I wonder if they have any students themselves…"

Jay sat at his desk and shrugged, "Who cares… let's just get it taken care of this and make that old grouch happy. I wanna see what those golden nunchucks can really do! Master Wu said he used them a long time ago," he smirked, tinkering with a small toy he was messing around with to shoot throwing stars. One launched and Zane caught it between his fingers like it was nothing. The blue eyed boy looked back at the paler one. "What about you Zane? You wanna see what it's like to wield the shurakins of ice?"

"I am most interested indeed Jay…" the paler eyed one sat, sharpening the blades of his throwing stars he was taking with them with more focus towards that then the conversations going on around him. "I sense that tonight shall not be very easy if we are to sneak into the home of a great Spinjitsu Master like our own master… after all; he is the older brother… would he be a better fighter than our own master? I hear that a father and mother would do anything to protect their child… Perhaps Wu will underestimate his brother…"

Kai laid back on his bed, chuckling, "You worry too much… we are ninja assassins trained by a dark lord of the Underworld, it is our job to sneak in and take our kill before the victim even knows what happened to them. We all are more than capable… we all did this to prove others wrong about us, not to start believing their lies. We aren't weak are we?"

"Just go and pack your weapons and get ready to make it there by night and quit your "what if" debates already… we go in, kill the kid, take the weapons, and leave to prepare the next stage of Wu's plan, got it?!" Cole scowled at the other three who were idly chatting away like they were preparing to go to a sleep over or play date.

They turned to Cole and nodded, getting up to grab their weapons and the four ninja boys left the Underworld to fulfill their orders.

**A little more with the boys in this one. Poor kids getting dragged around in this crazy stuff... Two brothers fighting each other with children as the pawns... sheesh dudes you gotta slug it out yourself, why are you using kids to settle your squabble? Seriously though when you think about it... Wu picked a bunch of goofy teenagers in the show to bear the responsibility of making order in the world XD**

**Thanks for reading this week's update :3 I'm kind of excited for the next chapter or two I'm writing hehe :D**

**~Mar**


	6. Chapter 6

Wu saw the four leave his domain. He saw Jay linger behind the others. Unlike the other three, he had rather strong ties to home above while the others had very little wanting to think about their own families. He knew that his brother and his family were asleep now and when they would wake, everything would be over and hope to stop him would be destroyed. Just thinking of that little baby growing and learning how to destroy him made him even angrier with everything.

"Just do your job…" he mumbled, thinking about his own students to himself. It was going to be horrible to just sit and wait for them to come back and tell them they did what he wanted and was ready to help him escape the Underworld and rule Ninjago. After all, he did promise they would be able to do what they wanted when it happened. "Ninjago will be ruled by the people who thought them weird or different… and my brother will get that message crystal clear tonight…" he was tempted with the idea of watching everything in shadow form but knew his older sibling was in tune to sensing his presence like that. "Shame… I want to see the look on his face when I take what's his…" he sighed, just a little frustrated.

* * *

Peaceful silence was in the monastery. Nya and Seliel were in their beds in their own room while Lloyd was tucked away in his crib in the nursery, and his parents were wrapped up together in the sheets a doorway away from their precious son.

However, the peacefulness did not last as there were four young agents of evil lurking around the exterior of the sensei's home made plans to ruin the silence. "So it's quiet… I think they're all asleep now," Jay turned to look at the other three behind him, waiting to go in and do their job. "Now… let's be careful, this kid could be stronger than us… from what Wu says he'll be able to destroy him or something…"

"Follow me…" Zane quietly said; raising is mask over his nose and slipping inside through the shoji doors first. None had been there before so it was all new territory for the four, but they would complete the task nonetheless. "Kill this other kid, weapons room to steal the golden weapons… remember the orders brothers…" he reminded them. He never showed anything on his face but even he was tense at doing all of this. If someone told him this was going to be his life two years ago, he would have just walked away.

"Hey, in here…" Kai checked a room in the hall. The other three poked their heads in and Cole took point, drawing small ninjatos. The boys quickly deducted that the room was a nursery and were greatly surprised by this, thinking it was a mistake, but Wu had said it was a boy and the only other children in the whole place were two girls by the looks of their room.

"A baby?" the earth ninja looked at the infant in disbelief. "Master wants us to kill a… a baby? How…" he glanced back at the others. What was he going to say? That it was wrong? Maybe he thought that but he was afraid the other three would think otherwise, "… how belittling… I was expecting a boy our age or something that could easily put up a fight! This is demeaning for someone of my… skill…" he uneasily looked back at Lloyd, hiding behind arrogance instead of just admitting that he just didn't want to.

Lloyd turned his head, starting to whimper a little and the four froze, slowly looking at the fidgety baby boy. "Don't make him cry! Just get it over with!" Kai hissed angrily at the team leader. "You're the leader! You do it!"

"I _told you_… it's belittling for the leader like me to do it! Why don't you do it fire butt?" Cole snapped back, trying to remain quiet and not wake anybody. "I'm the strong one… killing a defenseless baby seems more like the scrawny loser type and-" he then looked at Jay with Zane and Kai, "Go on then, go and do it…" They all shoved him forward; no one just wanted to admit they should just steal the golden weapons and run back to Wu to make up some lie why Garmadon stopped them from being able to kill Lloyd.

The blue eyed boy pointed to himself and the others nodded in agreement. Their rule was: when in doubt, get Jay to do it for you. Out of all of them, the blue eyed boy was the one who wanted to do this the least. He didn't know why he stuck around most days; it was mainly out of fear Wu was going to track him down or something for ditching them… and all this because he joined this crazy team on an impulse when he was upset and lonely.

Lloyd broke out in crying during their quietly arguing and the four flinched.

"Honey… I think I hear Lloyd starting to cry…" a voice came, "I think he's awake…"

"Okay… I'll go and get him… I'll be right back love," a woman's spoke next along with the moving of fabric and the creaking of bed springs and then shuffling of feet on the wooden floor.

"Hide…" Zane told the others quickly and the black clad kids slipped into the shadows to hide away.

Misako opened the door to the nursery with a tired smile, seeing Lloyd awake and reaching out to be picked up, "Hello Lloyd…" she kissed his cheek and giggled when he settled down a little bit by her presence. "What's wrong baby?" she bounced him a little. "Hungry? Or do you need your diaper changed?" she asked, not expecting him to answer back of course as she went to kiss his forehead.

Jay was hiding behind a dresser and saw her face turn from tired to pure joy when picking up her baby, the same with Lloyd, he couldn't see the others in the room but his heart clenched, _"Okay, they can get someone else to kill him… no way am I gonna be responsible for that mom cry…"_ he gave in to his softer side this round and crouched down more, feet rubbing on the carpet and the fabric of his suit brushing against the wall. Jay froze because it made a rather loud noise in the quiet room.

Misako looked up upon hearing the sound Jay just accidentally made, looking around and felt something wasn't right; some presence lurked in the room with her that she never felt was there before. "Come on…" she carried him into the other room, cradling him protectively, glancing over her shoulder nervously.

"Garmadon…" she shook his shoulder getting him to wake up again, "Garmadon someone else is in the house… something… well it doesn't feel good, I think that's what woke the baby up…" she whispered, afraid they would hear her even though she was talking quietly. "Someone or… some few are in Lloyd's room… I'm scared…" she told him as he rolled over, wiping his tired eyes.

Garmadon sat up, looking at his little bundle. "Okay… you're not gonna like this at all… frankly, neither do I," he licked his lip, "I want you to put Lloyd down in the crib and pretend you came back to bed… I'm going in right after you do that and handle things…" he held her shoulders as her eyes widened at the request.

His wife looked at the baby sadly and then looked back up, "But what if you…" she looked up and saw he was serious and wanted her trust, "Okay… yea…" she kissed her baby before going and placing him back in his bed, "Alright, now sleep through little one," she tried not to sound scared and pretended that no one else was there but Lloyd still wasn't having it as he kept his arms up, wanting her to hold him and give him more of her attention.

The four poked back out when the door was semi shut again and looked at one another. Zane sighed, "Fine…" he shook his head. "I'll do it… just because I know Wu will be angry with us if we fail to do this… he'll grow up to be the greatest Spinjitsu master ever and compromise what we're trying to do with Wu… we have to end this here and now or else we won't get what he promised us…" he swallowed, looking back. His adoptive father always tried to teach him good from bad, guess the answer to this one kind of obvious that this was the wrong thing. He shook his head a little_, "Maybe… I just don't want to be good and do what he expected of me…"_

* * *

The next room over Nya and Seliel had heard the muffled talking and decided investigate this themselves as well. The two girls crept in just when Misako was hiding behind the door with her husband who was about to walk in and then they saw it; four dark suited boys quietly talking amongst themselves and saw one pull their ninjato out once more as he walked over to the crib and Lloyd was crying again and they heard the door swing open.

Nya narrowed her eyes and pounced one of them, Seliel following right behind her. "You bullies!" she wrestled with two of them but he threw her off and she pinned the other to the ground "Don't hurt our little brother!" she growled like an animal at him.

"Nya?" his brown eyes widened under his hood in surprise to see her face, almost sounding hurt she called Lloyd her brother instead.

Nya was taken aback and pulled his hood and mask off roughly and gasped, "KAI!?" she quickly got off of them and looked back at the crying little one, "What… why are you trying to hurt Lloyd?" She felt tears well up in her eyes. She never expected her older brother would kill an innocent baby of all things. "Is that where you've been all this time? Learning to be a bad guy!?"

"That's what my master wants," the older brother growled back at her, "I… I wouldn't expect a goody two shoes servant of light to understand!" he tried to sound angry and superior at the girl he once promised to protect when she was just Lloyd's age, but it wasn't really working. The other three black clothed ninja and Seliel were all at stand still, not quite sure of what to do but look at one another.

At the other door, Garmadon and his wife were about to charge in but heard the two newcomers to this fight and looked at one another. "So they're the four…" he sighed and was ready to barge right in on the arguing kids.

"Kai…" she sniffed more. "You really did change… Garmadon said there was hope you wouldn't follow through with what Wu wanted and… and…" she wiped her eyes, not being able to fight now. "I can't believe you've actually stuck with following him for this long…"

The sensei and his wife ran into the room at last, done with listening, "Oh so I was right…" Garmadon sighed and shook his head. "You four shouldn't have come here tonight…" he darkly said and advanced into the room. "You are fools to follow my brother… and I shall deal with you not as children but as attempted murders who have broke into my home… if you want to play with fire… then maybe if you suffer consequences you'll see that what you four think you're doing is wrong…"

"Zane! Kill the kid so I don't have to and let's get out of here!" Cole fearfully choked out as Seliel was putting him in a headlock that he just couldn't shake because of her vice like grip. Zane did seem like the only one remotely willing to carry out the plan after all.

The blonde nodded and leaped from his position but Garmadon blocked Lloyd and pinned the smaller boy down when he went to thrust the knife, only downside? He had a knife wedged in his shoulder now and it hurt like hell.

"Misako get Lloyd out of here right now!" he practically ordered her, wincing more as Zane grabbed the knife handle and twisted it until the older man let go and sat back, seeing black on the edge of his vision from the stabbing pain. She had quickly obeyed without hesitation, but Kai wrenched free from his sister's grip and followed after.

"I'll get him… if we at least take him to Wu he'll be happy! Let that old man do his own dirty work is what I say!" the young fire ninja determinedly shouted.

"KAI! NO!" she screamed at him before being pounced on by Jay. "OOF!-HEY!" she tussled with the sapphire eyed ninja, ripping his mask off as well in her struggle when he got a better look at her face and they stared with wide eyes at one another for a moment while Cole and Seliel fought each other in the background.

"Wow… you're… cute…" he froze and the girl in the nightie came back to her senses and punched him square in the nose and then ran after her brother before Zane could apprehend her. "Oooow, I wanna get out of here!" he whined, pinching his now bloody nose.

* * *

Misako had tried flinging back her small shurakins and daggers that she was keeping up her sleeve, but it did little to stop Kai's advances as he dodged without much problem. She stood, backed up against the wall as she tried to hide in the weapon's room, arms protectively around her whining child as she glared at the fire ninja in black. "Just hand over the kid," Kai whipped out a ninja sword. She looked over to the scythe, wondering if she could grab it In time to attack him. "Master Wu reconsidered killing you… once he takes over Ninjago and gets your son and husband out of the way; he's going to take you for himself".

"I'm never going to go with that crazy lunatic no matter you do to me!" she hissed back. "You may tell your so called _master_ that I've been finished with him completely, he is not my family anymore since he went on this psychotic quest for power.

"I love Garmadon and Lloyd more than anything in the world… more than I fear him or any of you… the one you serve has given false promises and has corrupted you boys after just a year it seems… if you surrender you won't have to go back… we'll protect you from him ever coming after you… if you go back now, you will forget who you all are for good! You are not killers… you are not agents of evil! You all have parents who love and miss you!" she heard footsteps but kept on talking. "You could help us bring him down and make peace in Ninjago at last…"

Kai scoffed, "Quit stalling or I _will_ have to kill the both of you". He mindlessly shouted.

"You don't mean that! Look at you Kai; you're nine years old for goodness sake! If you did mean it, then why are we standing here right now both alive?" Misako countered. "Kai… your parents miss you so much… they have no idea what they did that was so wrong… they treated you as they do with Nya… why do you think they love her more!?"

"Shut up!" Kai snapped and Misako could see he was about to cry because he knew she was right. "I know that Nya's better than me… I always hear him say what a _great little blacksmith and swordsman his little Nya's gonna be_… I don't remember him saying that about me! Just _be a good brother and watch out for your sister..._ Is that all I'm good for!? Wu thinks otherwise…"

"And what will doing this accomplish for you!? Do you even know what you really want!? Just put the sword down because I know you can't use it…" Misako knew he must be hooked on whatever Wu's been promising him and the others. She looked behind and saw Nya charge in.

Nya tackled her brother from behind while he was distracted, "Leave them alone!" she shouted, wrenching his sword from his hands. "Don't hurt them!" Misako saw she was crying full on. "You were my big brother! You were supposed to be there for me but you left! I'm Lloyd's big sis now and I'm not gonna do the same thing that you did!"

* * *

Seliel dusted her hands off and looked at Zane, Jay, and Cole, "So… you wanna still go?" she glared at the three with a glare icier than Zane's.

"Let's get outa here already!" Jay screamed and ran out the first, the other two only leaving because of the scared lightning ninja.

"That's what I thought! Go tell Wu you got beat by a girl!" she stuck her tongue out and smirked wide at her win. Her expression fell when she looked behind her, "Oh no… sensei?" she quietly asked, helping him sit up. "You're hurt…" she frowned as she gingerly grabbed the knife handle and pulled it out, he made a small noise as she did so and pressed her hand against the wound to keep it from bleeding too much more as her hand quickly grew slick from the dark liquid.

* * *

"Kai! We're leaving! Jay's taking off without us!" Cole shouted at the fire ninja, looking more or less annoyed with everything.

The brunette looked up and threw his sister off his back, "You won't be seeing the last of us!" he sniffed and looked to the girls and said it rather pointlessly, running and climbing over the wall to escape with his friends into the night. "We'll… we'll be back and then you'll all be ended! W-We promise!"

Misako sank to the floor, feeling relieved they were leaving at last. Nya ran over and checked to make sure Lloyd was okay. "I can't believe my brother would try and do that…" she sniffed, hugging Misako tightly. "I don't want him to be evil like Wu… I want him home… he was crying… he didn't wanna do this did he?"

"I don't know Nya… but shh… he's being lied to is all… he'll see… hopefully soon…" Misako kissed the young girls' head as she hushed both her and little Lloyd. "Come… it's okay… let us get some rest… okay?"

Seliel trotted out next, looking worried, "Zane stabbed Garmadon… and I did everything I could but he needs more help…" Misako saw her hands and the sleeves of her night shirt have blood on it so she helped the younger girl, knowing it was going to be quite a long night for them now.

**Haha the last chapter made you think they were gonna be all pumped and ready to do this... come on guys I know they're kids XD But sheesh Kai tone it down bro with your pity party and all that jazz. He may or may not be doing stuff like this for attention... hehe... Man, like I said, Wu puts a little too much faith in kids... ya know? Crazy man just wants things taken care of I guess. I almost feel bad for having Nya sock Jay right in the nose but... he had it coming for getting into this. Seliel...? Yea I like her as a brawler...  
**

**So how Wu will react to what just happened...? Next Friday I promise :D Also... maybe a little more with Kai being a very impressionable and stupid child... another of the girls is going to be in it soon also, so hold your horses guys XD **

**Thank you so much for reading! :D**

**~Mar**


	7. Chapter 7

**Haha guess who got off of work 2 hours early than expected?! This girl! So I also have this thing about updating on specific days... so since I'm still up, here you go guys! I must have read it over 10 times now so I hope I fixed the grammar and dialogue that needed to be adjusted X.x Okay just go on and read, don't let me bore you all.**

Garmadon winced with every pull and stitch or anything that came in contact to the bloody shoulder wound as he held on to his son while his wife made work, patching him up. "This hurts like hell…" he clenched his teeth together and looked down at Lloyd who was raising a hand, grasping his father's fingers curiously. "I suppose it was all worth it for you little one…" he gave a weak smile before yelping in pain again, little Lloyd giggling a little. "I'm getting the feeling you enjoy my pain…" he frowned jokingly, glancing back at the girls who looked away quickly.

The two girls were sitting on the edge of the bed, watching the couple, no longer able to go back to sleep after what had happened that night. Garmadon glanced at the girls for a second time and sighed, "It has come to my attention… we may no longer be safe here…" he swallowed. "Even if for a short while… I want all of you to stay away from here-OUCH! Misako; watch were you stick that thing!" She pressed a rag damp with disinfectant, once more making him hiss in pain. "Aah!"

"And where shall we all go smarty?" Misako started to clean around the wound up the rest of the way, making sure he wouldn't get in kind of infection from the stab wound. "We have the weapons to keep an eye on… we have the baby and two girls… where do you want to go where we won't be found by Wu, Garmadon?"

"I'm working on it…" he winced again at the sting of the cleaning alcohol more. "For starters we can stay for a while in the city… didn't your parents have a place there?" he looked up at her, grabbing her wrist before she could do anything more to him. "Especially since you were full time at the museum working there at one point before we got married? The one you shared with Namiko?"

Misako sighed and nodded, "Yes… I have full ownership of it now and rented it out but no one's living there at the moment… but where we go; Wu will follow us close behind… it's no use honey, he'll find some way to locate it".

"I'm not putting these kids in danger anymore… those boys may not have been able to kill Lloyd… but they are returning back to Wu… and I can promise; the next time they see us, they will want to kill us… You want evidence? I got this from the knife meant for Lloyd!" he pointed to the stitched up wound and then back down at his son falling asleep. "I'm not letting my son die because I was too stupid to get him out of harm's way a third time… and the same goes for Seliel and Nya!"

* * *

"What. Do. You. Mean…. You got beaten up by two little girls!?" Wu erupted with rage at the four boys. They had seen him in a much more calm kind of personality, now they guess this is what the Skulkin meant about getting on his "bad side". "I take you in and teach you that fight back the people who kicked you around promise you a place in my new world… and you fail me on your first assignment! You couldn't kill the runt?"

Jay meekly looked up as Wu was glaring down at him first. The freckled boy cracked at last, "I couldn't do it!" he cried. "It was just a baby! He was defenseless! I couldn't make his mom cry, she looked so happy with him! She… she reminded me of my mom…" he looked at Cole and Kai, "They couldn't do it either and tried to force me to do it too!" He pointed accusingly, hoping Wu would switch over and get mad at them more than him.

Wu's eyebrow twitched up at the small blue eyed boy. _"Oh so we got a softie after all… he'll be the first to get straightened out I think… it looks like I have more work than I thought ahead of me…_" the dark lord tapped his foot as he thought.

"I was about to carry it out but his father jumped in the way… even taking a knife…" Zane explained though he too was very reserved about killing the small baby but didn't say it unlike Jay. "If it wasn't for him moving so fast I could have done it!" _"I still couldn't of… I'm happy his father got in the way to prevent it…"_ he thought in the back of his mind.

Wu turned back abruptly, raising his hand and they all huddled to the ground. Wu never hit them though and lowered his hand, still with a scowl on his blackened face. "This is still inexcusable… I promise to share the world with you four… and you already aren't carrying out your half of the deal…"

"We're sorry! We'll go back and do it for real!" Jay lifted his head, afraid to be punished still. "We promise master! We'll do what you asked! It was hard because the kid started crying and stuff and his mom came in and she sensed we were in the room!" He tried to hide behind that now, more scared of Wu than following his own ethics. Jay straightened up and looked at Kai, "Uh… and Kai has a message from the kid's mom… tell him Kai!" the other two nodded in agreement.

Kai felt his face get hot under the piercing, red gaze of Wu.

"She uh… well she kind of insulted you a couple of times… but uh… she said you're no longer her family at all…" he stuttered more as he saw his master's face turn even angrier if that was even possible. "She called you a lunatic basically…" he looked away. "And uh… she loves Garmadon more than she fears you and I think something about blaming her for your problems when you should have asked for help… or something like pushing people away… and uh sir?" he looked up and saw the dark lord standing over him with a staff in hand, it seems that had been the straw that broke the camel's back.

Without another word, Wu smacked them all, one by one with the hard piece of wood. He then sat back down, disgruntled by everything and saw the four hold their heads while their backs throbbed, they expected that would happen at some point, they figured it was better than anything else he could have done to them. "Go to your chambers before I do that again!" he snapped viciously and the boys ran t their rooms, terrified. "At least they fear me more now…" he mumbled when they were finally gone.

"Pathetic… and they said they were so close… maybe I'm rushing this too much… but he's getting older and no doubt he'll start training when he's three… just like I did…" he stroked his scraggly beard. "Knowing my brother he'll probably be hiding away to keep his son and those girls safe after what those sorry excuses for ninja failed to do… but where would they go?"

* * *

Nya and Seliel strapped their backpacks on and stood by the door, ready to leave the monastery for a little bit, just a little sad, they really liked it up there where they could look out and see practically all of Ninjago. Misako was busy fussing over her husband while holding the baby, "Okay… don't… I have it, you'll reopen the wound and do you want to go through _that_ again?" she sternly asked.

"No…" he grumbled and passed her the bag. "Can I at least take Lloyd?" he reached out the year and a half old baby who was sucking on his binky happily unaware of why they were moving out for a while. His wife smiled and passed him to his eager father with a nod. "Alright buddy, let's go…" he nodded to the girls. "You got everything you need?" he asked Misako.

"I have the weapons and I have all the stuff I'll need for Lloyd," she smiled, holding up a bag. "The only thing is we may have to get a smaller crib or a basinet that we can temporarily use… unless you don't mind sharing the bed with him."

"Doesn't matter, that'll be fine" he walked past her, "Nya, Seliel, come!" the two students hopped along after their sensei, looking back at the monastery with a bad feeling in their stomachs.

* * *

The four boys sat on their own beds silently; afraid Wu was going to kick the door down and do them in or something related to that but it was unlikely, he had a great anger, but he had a habit of isolating himself to cool down. "Why didn't we just do it!?" Cole growled, covering his face. "Why did we hesitate!?"

"Because it's wrong…" Jay quietly said, staring at the ground. "The four of us… kill a baby?" he looked at each of the others sadly. "I… I…" he covered his eyes to hide the fact he was crying, "I wanna go home… I can't do this anymore! I thought I was going to be okay but I'm not… I'm not like you guys… life was better than this even if the other kids broke my stuff and beat me up! I miss my parents…"

Kai got to his feet, "Listen to yourself you softie…" he gestured to the poor lightning ninja. "Wu promised us the world… you can kick all of those bullies into the dirt if you would just stand up and face training here! You also said your parents live in a scrap yard and all that, if you love your parents then you can give them whatever they wanted too!" he looked at Cole and Zane, "You guys too! We can't leave anyways so there's no use in trying to! I say we make the most out of this! I'm done with doing what's expected of people."

The black and blonde boys glanced at each other before shrugging a little. "Come on Jay…" Kai extended his hand. "Like Wu promised… this world is gonna be ours and we'll just take respect whenever we want it."

"Why though Kai? Your family loves you too I thought…" Jay mumbled.

"My sister hates me now anyways so what's the point? I bet my parents hate me too… like I can think to go back… like I even wanna go back after learning I can rule the world… my parents were ninja with Garmadon, they're good guys and why the hell would they even take me back at all when my dad spoke of my sister being a better blacksmith than me because I apparently show no potential!? Well Wu sees that in us when no one else probably did…" the brunette snapped at him. "Now come on…" Jay sighed and took his hand, giving up at this point.

Wu was standing outside the door and had a bit of a proud smile on his face. Before, when Kai was the last to leave the room he quickly had told him if he were to get the other three to remain servants to him, he would make Kai his right hand assassin and give him all the power he wanted. _"Good boy Kai… very good indeed…"_ he walked past to his own room in a much better mood than before. _"You will be probably the greatest of the four if you keep doing as I say…"_

* * *

_"__Kai; hold for one second…" his fire ninja stopped in his tracks just before he stepped through the heavy black doors to retreat with the other three to safety from his wrath. The brown eyed boy slowly turned his head back and Wu gestured for him to come back. The nine year old swallowed hard. "I'm not going to hit you again if that's what you're worried about". The boy still felt tense. _

_"__Forgive me for such an outburst…" he started and this surprised Kai his sudden mood change. "You just don't understand how much pressure I am under… this boy, my nephew… is going to be trained to come here and kill me and you as well if you dare to stand in his way… you four failed last night but I can be an… understanding person… you never killed before and you hesitated… I see that now and understand if it was hard for you," he shrugged a little. _

_Kai was still staring at him in disbelief at his words. "So I have a new goal for you… I know how you feel… what with your sibling issues and all… do just as I say and convince the other three to follow, and you will gain a higher seat than them in my new world, you will be my right hand and will have whatever you desire fulfilled at your command. Can you do that fire ninja?"_

_The boy opened his mouth, trying to answer. He wasn't completely sure now. After a moment he looked back up at the man who was training him and nodded, "Y…Yes sir… I can do it…" he looked back down at his feet, selfish side giving in completely. "I'll make them…"_

_"__Then good boy…" Wu told him. "Go on then… convince them to continue under me". Kai bowed and ran out to find the other three. "Ah… youth… so impressionable at this young age…" he smirked. He would live up to the promise though, he wasn't lying about it; Kai was fire; he was rage and fury and other hot emotions that would make him stronger on the battlefield, he would be a great asset even if the other three would back out. _

He had fed into Kai's self pity and feelings of insignificance, being he knew what it was like. It was simple manipulation. Kai craved to be important to somebody who acknowledged him a lot, which wasn't very hard to gain the trust and loyalty of someone like that if you waved something shiny in front of them and praised them even a little bit, it made them want to constantly do more to receive it.

He thought back to his brother once more, especially the night he was kicked down here because his older sibling did it in an act of mindless adrenaline to survive. He felt his blood boil over it once more before retiring to his room.

"Now all I need to do is find where they're hiding now…" he talked to himself. "Who knows how long it could take…" he stopped himself, "Unless…" he tapped his foot thinking things over in his head. "I know who can help…" he turned around. "Time to revisit an old enemy I think…"

* * *

Once they stepped inside the young girls looked around, taking in their home for now. "You can have your own rooms or you can share one if you want," Misako set the weapons down on the table and looked back at them, "I understand if you want your own space." The two shrugged and walked down the hallway, dragging the backpacks with them.

"I'm still worried that we don't have enough power on our side…" Misako quietly said when they were out of ear shot. "Wu has four boys he probably has under his foot now and will condition at all costs to forget their ethics and do his bidding… they're going to find us here eventually love," she hugged her husband tightly.

He kissed the top of her head, an arm still around his son and the other around her waist. "Believe me I know…" he rested cheek now on her head. "I take it you want two other students to match up against the boys?" he felt her nod and was silent again before answering, "Well… I guess we'll see what we can find later… you have to go into the town anyways right? I'll go with you."

The black and pink haired girls looked at one another with a little bit of surprise after overhearing the conversation of the two. "Another student?" Seliel blinked, not knowing what to think about that. "Do you think they'll get another girl Nya?"

"I don't care as long as they're gonna help us!" the seven year old's brown furrowed. "The next time I see my brother… I'll soak him with my water," she smiled sadly at the fact she wanted to do that very badly.

"And I'll blind those dumb boys with my smoke!" the two best friends bumped the backs of their wrists together which became their own little handshake whenever something good happened to them or when they were excited. "Hey… Nya… you okay?"

"I just… it's just about Kai is all…" she looked down. Seliel hugged her tightly. "I want him home…" she hugged tighter while Seliel was just being a good friend and kept silent, not knowing what to say to that.

**Yes, soon, a new good guy I promise. I kinda wanna draw Garmadon and the girls like... through the years because they train with him until their teens and stuff... Evil Wu is actually fun to write... its basically just a more angrier and devious version... in my head anyways... oh and maybe a dash of crazy... XD **

**Okay so it's really late... 1:30... ouch... thank you so much for reading! Really appreciate it :) See you guys later!**

**~Mar**


	8. Chapter 8

It had been three weeks and Wu was frustrated seeing little to no results as far as searching for his brother. The other three students seemed to at least listen a bit more and Kai was like a teacher's pet at this point and Jay especially wondered why. _"Jay's weak but he's easy to control through peer pressure with the others…"_ he thought to himself. Anytime he looked Jay in the eye the boy would look away even faster. _"Fear can be very powerful…"_

"Kai…" he called the fire ninja out. The nine year old looked his way, at attention, "A few weeks ago I contacted an old ally and later enemy named Chen… he has an underground crime empire he started before banishment who agreed to help find my brother and his students. You will go and check to see if any progress is being made; do you understand?" he asked.

"Yes sir," he walked out right away. Cole and Zane looked at one another; it always seemed to be Kai was the new and official favorite of their master. They would wait until Kai returned before questioning Wu's new fondness over him.

* * *

Kai looked at the address he scribbled on the scrap of paper. A girl with ruby red hair opened the door with a frown, "…hello?" she looked around and saw no one else was with him. "Who're you?" she looked at his black ninja robes with red trimmings.

He didn't look to pleased being held up at the door, "I'm Kai and I'm one of Wu's students, he said I had to come here to ask about whereabouts of his brother and company. Can you just let me in already?" the two nine year olds looked at one another. She had turquoise eyes and tanned skin, dressed in orange, looking a little bit suspicious at him.

"Come in then… I'm… Skylar…" she slowly said, keeping her gaze straight ahead as she walked with the ninja trailing behind her. "My father is out at the moment but someone else is here that will see you instead… wish your master told us he was coming…" she glanced back over her should a little when she started down a staircase. "Uncle Clouse… one of Wu's servants is here… you were expecting him or something?"

"I'm not a servant! I'm his student… his right hand no less…" Kai puffed quietly to her and she rolled her eyes.

He was cut short when the man assumed to be the one she called Clouse came out to see what she wanted from him, "What is it?" he looked behind her. Kai's face turned red with silent anger at the comment. "Well whatever… what does that cursed pain in the butt you serve want now?"

"He wanted to know if you had any idea of where the targets are…" he mumbled his answer. "Or if you guys are really just lazy bums…" Clouse didn't seem to appreciate that remark. "My brothers and I can't carry out our orders unless you find them. Wu said you knew everything and everyone who goes in or out of Ninjago City and a place like this is easy enough to hide in being you're supposed to be exiled… I wonder if your boss is really as good as he says he is…"

"What's this now? Someone questioning my power and influence?" The three looked back to find a man dressed similarly to Clouse walk in. "Who the hell is this kid now? He's got a bit of a smart mouth," he looked at his right hand man and daughter, waiting for an answer.

"One of Wu's four boys, father, Kai," Skylar quietly told him. "Your friend grows impatient from the sound of things…"

"Oh I figured, he was always an impatient man… both brother could be," Chen waved his hand and looked at his daughter, "Why don't you leave us Skylar? You're a girl, you shouldn't be getting involved in these types of things as of now," he asked.

"But dad I-" she started but his brown eyes almost seemed to glare at the fact she spoke up against what he told her to do so with a sigh, she did as she was told, just like everything else she ever did.

Once on the other side of the door Skylar looked at her hand and smirked a bit, seeing tiny flames dance in the palm of her hand. "So… a fire master… I was right by the way he was dressed," she closed her fist to extinguish her flame and looked through the crack in the door at Kai, listening in still on whatever they were going on about.

"So you wanna kill Garmadon's son? That's why Wu has us on a goose chase? Knew he was ambitious, but killing his own baby nephew? My he certainly has taken a dark turn!" Chen laughed, almost delighted. "Then again, we did train together!"

Her eyes widened when hearing that snippet of conversation. She knew very well that this Garmadon was an ex ally, same with Wu at one point, back before she was born and her father wasn't quite so evil as he was now... from her understanding anyways. The nine year old girl bit her lip and snuck out, up the stairs and left the house. "I can't take this craziness anymore… dad was never a murderer… and they sound like they wanna take over the world…"

* * *

"Let's go… we're almost done and I know you don't want to leave the apartment longer than an hour," Garmadon held an arm around his worrying wife as they walked down the street together. "Come on now, we're a block away," he offered her a smile.

He stopped though abruptly and Misako frowned at him, looking concerned, "What is it?" she asked and glanced back at a girl around Seliel's age scampering off with something in hand. "Wait…!"

Skylar heard the couple coming closer to the alley she made a turn in, hand clutching the wallet. "Great… I try and do stuff to get along on my own… and I'm already failing at that…" she continued down to get away from them.

"Shh," he let his wife go and followed the way she went without another word. He poked his head down the alley way and motioned for her to follow behind him. "Keep quiet…" he told Misako as they rounded a corner. The girl was there and she stopped, looking up at the two and giving an uneasy grin. "Give it back," Garmadon held his hand out.

The girl in orange raised an eyebrow and set the wallet back, but something more happened when her hand brushed his for a moment. "What did you just do?" Garmadon quickly asked, jerking his hand back out of surprise, feeling a strange shock.

Her eyes bugged out and she took a step back. "Uh… see ya mister-!" she had been cut off by Garmadon pulling on the end of her tightly wrapped scarf. "Hey!" she stopped the struggle and looked back with angry aqua eyes at the pair. "What's the deal?"

"Amber…" he simply said.

"What?"

"That's your element… the power to absorb… did you not think I would notice an absorption master steal a piece my powers even if it was by accident?" he gave a knowing grin as she looked at her hands. "Or do you not know your powers?" She looked down and shook her head, she knew full and well she had elemental powers, "What's your name?"

"Skylar Hikori…" she mumbled, looking at her feet, "Can I go? Because my dad's waiting for me!" she lied and tried to get away again.

"Wait," Misako put a hand out to her and she stopped yet again. "We're elemental masters too… and we have two… well three students technically… we're friends, not some kind of elemental hunters or something… we're the good guys… Ninja…"

Skylar blinked, "Ninja?" Her face fell when she seemed to recognize the two. "I… my dad wouldn't like it if I hung around you two… even if… I…" she bit her lip. "He spoke of you…" she rubbed her arm. "My dad… his… his name is Chen… he said he knew you before I was born… You're… Garmadon right?"

Misako held a hand to her face, "I didn't know he had a daughter," she quietly said to her husband. "Chen was banished I thought… that's what you and Wu did after the war… right?"

"Oh he was banished alright… but he snuck back into the country… how I was born actually… he's a crime boss and is working with someone now from, well the Underworld, and they're looking for you so if you just let me go, I'll say I never saw you guys here, because my dad will catch on once he finds out I'm not home… I could lead him right to you."

Garmadon held a hand out and she further raised an eyebrow, questioning him silently. "Come with us instead…" he offered to her. Skylar looked even more surprised than before. "Come on, the man looking for me… it's my brother… he has four assassins right?"

"I only met the fire one earlier this morning… and I only met Wu's shadow once a few weeks ago…" she held her hand out and showed that she copied the fire. "But he's tracking you guys down still so you gotta be careful… they're gonna find you guys eventually if you don't watch it…" she warned them and was ready to leave but felt her heart strings being tugged. "If I go with you, what's in it for me?"

"You get away from your obviously emotionally manipulative father, we can teach you Spinjitsu and how to use your powers better… and you can come live with us for good… and help us… you ran away because you disagree with them right?" he still kept his hand extended to her. Skylar still looked hesitant but took it anyways.

"Okay…" she nodded and looked around. "We should stay off the street for a little bit… just to be safe…" And so the third girl went along with the couple whose son would save the world.

* * *

"What do you mean my daughter's gone!? Where the hell could she have gone to!?" Chen shouted at the underlings who came in to inform him of the missing girl. Kai was about ready to leave when that came out. He had to get back though right away, so he left to go to the Underworld and maybe tell Wu of this new development.

* * *

He walked through the heavy doors, watching Jay and Zane spar, the poor lightning ninja constantly almost getting maimed; it was a miracle he kept being able to dodge at the last second like he was. Cole was waiting his turn on the steps to the throne's base and Wu was lazily sitting on his throne like he was bored with watching them.

"Oh… you're back at last…" he snapped his fingers. "Zane stop before Jay breaks something…" he auburn haired boy crashed to the ground just after he said that, lifting his upper body and frowning at his master.

"No luck yet but… Chen's daughter is missing… right after Chen was talking to me I guess… What do we do now master Wu?" he asked.

The older man looked like he was thinking it over. What now was right.

"Chen will probably work to find his daughter instead now but…" he trailed off. "What if… Skylar's mother _was_ an elemental master though she tried to hide it from Chen…?" he started mumbling and Kai strained to hear as well as the other three. "I shall tell Chen that my brother may have found her… if he is in Ninjago City… that will narrow the search field just a little bit…" he stood up, "Kai's in charge while I am away…" he started walking down the steps and melted into a shadow.

Cole, Jay, and Zane looked at Kai, all with matching frowns. Kai looked back, mouth slipping into a sleazy grin at the fact he was now in charge of them. "Why is Wu favoring you anyways?! I'm the strongest and was the leader before we failed last month!" Cole snapped, finally asking after weeks of wondering. "What did he promise you Kai?"

"Nothing he hasn't promised any of you," the brunette shrugged back and decided to walk to the room they were forced to share. "Maybe he thinks I'm just better than you all…"

Jay sat up, still holding his head, "How are you better than us? You at the same skill level… if anything; Zane should be his favorite because he could kill me just by looking at me! You can't do that…" Kai's brown eyes seem to glow bright like flames and Jay yipped, getting behind Zane for safety. "Okay I see your point…" The ice ninja just patted poor Jay on the head. They were the only two that could actually get along best it seemed.

"I bet that whoever finds where Garmadon and the others are hiding will be Wu's new teacher's pet!" The earth ninja got to his feet before Kai could walk out on the others.

The fire ninja looked greatly interested in this little challenge and walked back over to them. "Okay then…" he turned to Zane and Jay, "You guys in too?" The two quietly nodded. "Alright… first to find them will be Wu's right hand…"

The four raced to get back to Ninjago above and start their silly competition with another, not even bothering to think about when Wu returned to find they were all gone. Kai smirked to himself though, confident her could win being if Garmadon had Skylar, only he knew what she looked like.

**Okay... so Skylar was next in the line up :) As for your questions about Jay dropping out and going with Garmadon and the girls? You will see later! Believe it or not, I do have ****_somewhat_**** of plan here haha**

**And don't worry, I plan to go far more into about Skylar and the au version of what happened in the adults' past that led up till now. There's a good chance if you have any questions, they'll be explained at some point. ;3**

**Thanks for reading! :D**

**~Mar**


	9. Chapter 9

Seliel and Nya exchanged skeptical glances after their caretakers and teachers told them about Skylar and then looked to Lloyd who was in Seliel's arms. "Have you considered she really did try to lead them here on purpose? What if she's being tracked?" the pink haired one frowned.

"I'm not a spy or anything!" Skylar sounded rather hurt by it. "Come on…" she sighed, folding her arms.

Nya looked at Lloyd who didn't seemed agitated by her presence, one way they could tell if someone was able to get along with the fussy baby. In fact, the little infant was smiling at her, his little hand waving. "Lloyd seems to like her…" Nya considered.

"There's no debate," Garmadon told the girls. "Skylar is your new sister and that is how it will be. Her power is amber and that can be useful if you come into contact with the boys again," he walked past them. "Now we must be careful because unlike her, her father _is_ searching for us and we will have to be careful more than ever about them finding us here, okay?"

The girls nodded in understanding and he sighed, "Alright then, why don't you two show Skylar some things I've taught you? Hmm?" he picked Lloyd up from Seliel's arms. "I'll be in your training room in just moment after I put him down".

"Yes Garmadon," the two said in unison and gestured to Skylar who followed, a little more opened to the idea of having a new sister to train with and help with Lloyd, they did want one before after all. "So… here's where we practice and stuff…" Nya explained to the darker skinned girl. "Even we haven't mastered Spinjitsu tornadoes… and now we don't even have a training course…" she just realized. "Oh well… better get started… what kinds of weapons do you like?"

Skylar looked over to several weapons on a rack and smiled, walking over to them. "I like archery… is that helpful in any way?"

"Eh sure, better learn some other weapons too though just in case… like Nya uses swords and is figuring out shurakins and stuff…" Seliel nodded over to the other brown eyed girl in the room. "I like all sorts of weapons… here, try these, they're sais," she pulled a pair and gave them to the amber ninja. "Garmadon and Misako won't let us touch stuff like chain sickles and scythes yet though… they say their dangerous for a bunch of little kids or something…" she longingly looked at the chained weapons on a higher up rack.

* * *

Misako smiled, "Well it looks like they're getting along just fine now it seems," she hugged her husband. "So… when shall we start teaching Lloyd too?" she nodded to the baby, laying on their bed, sound asleep now. "I hate thinking about that but will have to soon… right?"

Her husband shrugged, "Well, I just figured when he turns three… like how old we were… I don't want to rush him growing up though Mimi… he deserves to have a childhood… even if it involves training to fight someone to the death," he shook his head and kissed the top of his wife's head. "Come on, wanna help with the girls?" Garmadon looked back before entering the other room.

"Okay," she nodded and walked in with him, "just for a little bit I suppose".

* * *

The ninja in black and red rounded another corner, looking around with no luck still. "Ugh Jay, will you stop following me around? You're getting annoying…" Kai groaned, hearing the lightning ninja walked up behind him. "Seriously, you gotta find them on your own… that's what the rest of us are doing… and it's kind of the point of a competition…"

The freckled boy nodded a little, "I know but I'm stuck!" he told the brunette. "This is really hard searching on the ground like this you know!"

"Heh, wish you were a bird now don't you blue jay?" Kai chuckled at his own joke and darted off on his own once more.

Jay's sapphire eyes widened. "Like a bird huh?" he smirked and looked up at the tops of the buildings. "Thanks Kai for giving me an idea… I'll show that teacher's pet I'm not so stupid and weak!" he ran off the way he had just come. "All I need is some canvas and wood scraps… and maybe some rope," he thought out loud to himself, now excited if anything to do what he did best; build something.

* * *

Wu materialized back into the Underworld as it grew darker out in Ninjago above. He cracked his knuckles and looked around, expecting to find the boys practicing while he was away. "Kai?" he asked. "Cole, Jay, and Zane? Get out here!" he shouted for them, scowling more when no one answered him. "Where did those four go!?" he grumbled, stalking to the room they shared and found it empty as well.

"Kruncha! Nuckal!" he called for the two he knew would be hanging around for his command. On cue the scatterbrained, klutzy pair of skeletons quickly ran out to him, bowing. Wu rolled his red eyes, "Where the hell are the boys!? I can't find them anywhere!"

"Uh oh…"

Nuckal squeaked and looked away as Wu leaned over, narrowing his eyes. "You know where they went… so?" there was a beat of dead silence when the two glanced at one another. "WHERE ARE THEY?!" he erupted at last, making the two servants cover their heads

"After you left the other three asked the fire one about being your pet favorite!" Kruncha quickly explained before his head could be sent rolling through the corridors of the Underworld. "So they all made a bet that whoever found your brother first would be your new favorite!"

"Yea! And then they all rushed out of here! Just ask the sentries! We swear that's what happened!" Nuckal cried.

Wu stood with his folded arms, not believing what he was hearing, "Oh gods…" he chuckled. "I don't believe this! They all started a competition amongst themselves without me even planning it!" The two skeletons were surprised to see their master laughing when the expected him to be furious with them all. "If they do not return in a week's time I will find them myself…" he turned and walked to his own room. _"Well that was certainly unexpected… now they're actually fighting to be my favorite?!"_

* * *

Seliel hammered the punching bag as hard as she could. It had been a week and so far Skylar had more or less scooched her way into their little happy ninja family. The amber eyed nine year olds muscles ached and she sat on her butt, panting.

"Since when did you become interested in strength building?" Garmadon had asked her. She looked behind at him, undoing her long ponytail. "I mean… your power is smoke and your training as if it were metal or earth," he chuckled when she shrugged.

"If those stupid boys are coming after us again… I wanna make sure I can beat em up like last time…" she got up gain and took the cup of water he offered her. "I don't want anything like last time to happen…" she saw the edge of the stitching from his wounded shoulder under the collar of his shirt.

He looked down to it, knowing that was where she was looking and ruffled her magenta hair, "Don't worry… I trust that you'll protect me," he chuckled again. "And don't worry, it'll just scar and I'm fine with that… you may not fully understand Sel, but like I said, it was worth it". She nodded a little looking down. "So… Skylar's a fast learner it seems?"

"Yea…" Seliel sat next to him on the floor, folding her legs into a lotus position like him. "She's pretty cool I guess…" she closed her eyes and rested back on the wall. "Sensei…" she now folded her legs to her chest, "I… I just hope we'll make you proud you picked us to help you…"

He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her to his side with a smile, "Oh come on, you'll do just fine… maybe later after dinner we can try Spinjitsu again with Nya and Skylar; sound good?" he asked her.

"Yep," she hopped up, walking out of the huge room that was set aside for their training. "I'm so hungry… and Misako said she was making mac and cheese for us!" she let out a tired breath, hearing her stomach growl more.

"Then go on, I wouldn't waste a second more," he patted her back as she got up and sprinted out of the room.

* * *

Jay knotted the last ends of rope and unfolded the wing with a frown. The nine year old nodded a little and tried to slip it on. "Alright Jay… time to show the good old Walker ingenuity!" he grinned wide and looked over the side of the building; suddenly worried this thing wouldn't work right, granted her had been working on a week on it. "Uh… well…" he swallowed as his grin faded.

"Aaaaaand- fly!" someone shoved him right of the edge.

The young lightning ninja flailed around for a little bit before yanking on the ropes that would straighten the wings out. The auburn haired boy looked back and grimaced when he saw it was Cole who had shoved him over the edge, looking surprised his mechanism was working after all. "Oo… I should shove _him _off a building next chance I get! Only with no parachute," he darkly laughed. "See how he does!"

He turned back to see that he was about to crash through a huge apartment window, air currents all over the place as it seemed to pick up more as clouds rolled in. "OH CRAP!" he shouted loudly, closing his eyes tightly, bracing for a painful impact.

* * *

Misako kissed Lloyd on the cheek a couple of times after pulling him up from his highchair and resting him on her hip. The little baby was almost two years old and it seemed he was even more eager to be a little ninja, constantly escaping from his highchair and playpen and anything else his parents had set up to keep him contained in.

"Next thing you know, he's gonna start getting into our weapons," Nya giggled. Skylar tilted her head, not laughing with the others but quietly smiling to herself.

One thing she so far observed about these five; they were very close, unlike she was to them, but she wanted to be; they were a far better family than what she had with her father. She perked up a little, looking around quickly and the others noticed her sudden shift.

"I… hear someone screaming…" she frowned more, looking around for the source.

As the noise drew closer the five turned around from where they were seated to see a rather familiar looking boy with a strange contraption, head straight for the giant living room window.

"Oh my gosh," Misako gaped and her husband pulled her and Lloyd down behind the kitchen counter while the three girls ducked under the table as the glass shattered on impact, covering the whole floor.

The first to have a look at their odd visitor were the three girls. Who peeked over the table, eyes wide at who it was that crash landed in their huge living room.

"Oh man… anyone have any gauze or something?! I think I got some cuts… I'm so sorry for breaking through your window! My friend shoved me off a building and well, I'm just sorry…" the freckled boy dusted his clothes off and his red brown hair of any glass shards he may have had on him as well as sliding his broken canvas wings off. "I- oh my gosh-" his mouth dropped as well at who he had stumbled upon as he heard the girls shout something, tackling him to the floor.

**Almost forgot about updating this XP But hmmmm... I wonder what I will do next now that Jay has landed right in the apartment... also I wanna show the girls and Lloyd and Garmadon and Misako being more like a family... that'll get more fun as they all grow into teenagers lol... I need to draw them all like 'through the years" kind of thing.  
**

**Well it's late and I'm tired... see you all later! Thanks for reading!**

**~Mar**


	10. Chapter 10

"Wu's assassin!" Nya pretty much screamed and pointed before pounced from her spot like a wild animal, pinning him to ground which took the lightning ninja by surprise, terrified she was going to claw at him next or something, right now he wasn't thinking she was so cute like last time they met. "Tie him up and check for weapons!" the nine year old told Seliel quickly.

The pink hair girl and Skylar followed Nya while Jay looked around, stunned at everything while they were grabbing at him. "Wait! No! Don't hurt me! I'm the weakest of the four I swear I am!" he cried while the girls yanked him by the arms and he slipped out of art restraints, body aching. "I was shoved off a building while wearing my contraption! It was an accident! I'm not attacking anyone! OUCH! Can you stop twisting my arm!?" he shouted at Seliel who just glared back.

"Girls!" Garmadon shouted over the squabbling of the four children. They all froze and turned their heads to him to see what he wanted, "Let… let the boy be please; release him… he has no weapons on him," Jay's sapphire eyes bugged out, not believing what he was hearing from their teacher. "We are not letting him go… _but…_I want to speak with him…"

Everyone else looked at him as if he were crazy, even Misako. This was one of the boys who stabbed him and attempted murder on his only son. He wanted to talk with this little monster? The three students let go however and backed away from him, still giving him dirty looks.

After any arguing was settled, Jay was meekly waiting on the couch, anxiously wondering what was going to happen next to him. His plan was just to find where they lived, not attack. At last the five sat around him, almost like an interrogation.

"You are Jay Walker…" Garmadon started. "I am friends with your parents… I have known you since you were a baby… much like Kai and Cole, Zane was adopted by another good friend of mine... I believe what you are telling me is true… and I also have a feeling… you aren't really like the other three from the look of things… you built that…" he glanced at the broken canvas and wood wings, "a thing for surveillance, not attack… the other three would have been more… sophisticated and stealthier I guess? But I want something from you specifically…"

"What do you want from me sir?" the freckled ten year old swallowed hard, trying not to look anymore scared than he already was of this situation. "I'll do anything, just don't let those three hurt me," he discreetly pointed to the girls, half whispering.

Garmadon chuckled and nodded, "Fair enough," he patted the boy's shoulder. "You don't fit in and though they don't see it… I do… yet I know my brother _must_ have made some threat about abandoning his side he'll act on should you do so… I want you to continue with him… but I want you to be my spy…"

Jay's eyebrows went up at that. Him; spy for the good brother? He bit his lip and sat back more. What choice did he really have? He rather drop out of this silly thing altogether and go back home but that wasn't on the table it seemed. He looked to Lloyd who was nodding off in his mother's arms, "Yea… okay…" he quietly agreed. "But can you tell my parents? I want them to know I'll be okay…" he looked at his feet.

"Of course I will…" Garmadon smiled a little. "When you're ready to leave to find the other boys, lead them off and tell them you did find us… but say we ran to Spinjago which is east of here, understand? Make up any way you want on how you found this out. There's an abandoned building on the south side of the city, you can't miss it."

"Yes sir," Jay nodded again stiffly at his new orders.

The brunette man got back up and nodded to Skylar, "Sky, would you mind getting the first aid kit in the bathroom for him? Breaking that window messed him up quite a bit, but maybe you should make it look worse than what happened." she nodded and did as she was asked, seeing their freckled guest had a cut across his forehead and on his fingers and looked back up at the sensei, "You can lie and say Seliel conked you in the head or something".

"What is going to happen to him if Wu finds out he's lying for us? He can protect us, but we can't protect him from your brother should something bad happen…" Misako pulled her husband aside, glancing back at the son of one of their friends as the girls sat around him, asking him questions while Skylar helped him wrap a bandage around his head, seeming to trust Garmadon's call on this one. "You know your little plan will not end well for him Garmadon… and maybe you too should the other three and Wu overpower you when you're on your own".

"Saying I can't handle myself? I'm master of Spinjitsu Misako… you know I survived that entire war with barely any scratches."

"That's not what I meant and you know it… I just don't want you to end up dead by your own confidence…" she groaned hating how he could seem nonchalant about this whole plan of his.

He kissed her cheek, "Don't worry, I wouldn't dream of letting Jay get caught, same with me because I plan on being there in Spinjago… waiting for my brother to find me and you and the girls are gonna stay at Ed and Edna's while I'm gone and under no circumstances are any of you to follow me," Misako's green eyes widened and she went to shout at him for telling her that but he kissed her before she could, "I know what I'm doing Mimi," he repeated with chuckle. "You and the kids will stay where it's nice and safe". He walked away.

"Your dad's an idiot…" she told the baby sucking on his binky with droopy green eyes. "Ugh, but he's our idiot unfortunately…"

* * *

It had been a full week and now the sneaky shadow of Wu crept up behind the three ninja boys clothed in black, red, and white. "Boo," he quietly said, making them all jump and turn around to see his looming shadow against the alleyway walls, red eyes piercing through the black shadow in a menacing way.

"Master Wu… uuuh…" Zane, Cole, and Kai yelped together and turned around, afraid they were done for now by the huge shadow. "We… we were just… don't hurt us!" they bowed down in unison.

Wu just chuckled though to their surprise, "Oh I know what you're up to this past week, which is why I let you four be-… but where's Jay!?" he noticed the lightning ninja not with them. Cole looked guilty and everyone stared at him. "What did you do to him Stone!?" Wu snapped viciously.

Zane and Kai looked at him as well, wondering what did happen to the freckled ninja, they messed with him, but they wouldn't do something to hurt the kid. Cole swallowed hard, "I may have shoved him off a building earlier today when he was testing some kind of mechanism and I think he broke someone's window…" the black clothed eleven year old nervously laughed, scratching behind his ear. "I… I'm sure he's okay!"

Wu held his hand to his face, not believing what he was hearing. Competition, he liked between the four, but possibly killing one? He needed four! It was the only way to control the four weapons, by controlling the destined four as pawns under him?! "Well how about you pathetic bozos go and find him instead of milling around like you don't have a job to do!?" They looked at one another, still not moving, "NOW! GO!" he snapped even louder and his underlings started running down the street.

"Way to go Cole," Kai hissed. "If you killed Jay, Wu will kill you!"

"I'll beat you into the dirt if you say one more word to me; _teacher's pet,_" Cole snapped back while Zane just sighed between them, wishing they didn't fight so much for dominance in the group, it seemed only he understood balance and teamwork was what was going to help them in the long run.

* * *

Jay was walking down the street, picking at the bandages round his fingers, he was lucky he didn't get more cut up going through that window. His blue eyes flicked up when he heard fast and light footsteps. "JAY!" the three shouted at him, all with relieved looks on their faces. The lightning ninja was surprised they were running after him, looking happy that he wasn't dead.

"Oh guys, you're… happy to see me?" he blinked.

"What? No! Wu threatened us if we didn't find you we'd get our heads handed to us!" Kai growled. "Now come on we need start looking again before we have to go back tonight! Sheesh you look awful…"

The auburn haired one straightened up, remembering what he was supposed to tell them, "Uh… b-but I found them already!" The other three looked back with wide eyes, not believing what he just said, "H-how do you think I got these?" he lied, pointing to his head.

They rushed around him, "Then where did they go!? What happened?!" they started crowded around him more, grabbing at the collar of his tunic and pestering him with questions, shocked that he would be the first to find them.

"I-it was just the girls left behind to throw us off! Garmadon, Chen's daughter, and the baby's in Spinjago City! That was all I managed to get out of one of the girls before she over powered me and I had to escape!" he lied a second time, just like the sensei told him to do. "We… we should tell Wu and then move on from there! Th-that's the next best choice, right?"

The four started back to the Underworld to discuss with Wu on how they should act upon Jay's new false information. The blue and black clothed boy, worrying about what would happen should they find that it was a lie, he would have to start making some cover lies. He never had lied so much before. He better start getting use to it, because he knew Wu could easily see through his currently awful poker face.

* * *

Garmadon hugged the three girls goodbye and then his son who was getting whiny, "Hey buddy, I'll be back soon… I promise…" he felt bad that Lloyd was not having it in the slightest; he knew he wasn't going to get to see his father for a little bit. "I'll see you later and remember, Ed and Edna's junkyard is west of here; it's only about an hour's drive. It's really barren out there and hardly anybody goes there… okay?" he told Misako next.

"Got it," she took Lloyd back and kissed him. "Good luck and if I find you have any more marks like that," she poked at the shoulder wound, making him wince a little being it still hurt, "I'll mess you up worst than anything your brother could do to you".

"I'll keep that in mind," he chuckled and kissed her nose, "I'll see you girls in a week," he grabbed his staff and hesitantly grabbed the sheathed sword Misako was insistently handing him looked back one more time_, "I hope…"_ he thought that part.

**Haha you all thought was gonna be evil... well... maybe he won't be... but who knows what will happen in the future hahahaha... next chapter will be fun for me... or was it chapter 12... idk... but Ed and Edna are in next week's update... **

**Thanks for reading :3**

**~Mar**


	11. Chapter 11

Misako, holding little Lloyd, led the three students from where the car was parked, to what looked to be a fenced in junk yard or possibly just a sea of old car tires. When looking up at the sign over the gate in turned off neon lights read "Ed and Edna's Scrap and Junk" and by the looks of it, it was wall to wall junk and amongst the heaping piles of broken machines and assorted robotic parts was a set of trailers.

"So this is Jay's home?" Seliel and Skylar both raised an eyebrow, not exactly happy with this place as a temporary place to stay while they left the apartment be for a week or so to throw Wu and the others off their tail, that, and the giant window to the living room had to be fixed or else it would be too hot in the daytime or too cold at night for them and then there were bugs and birds getting in and mucking the place up.

"Yes," Misako smiled, "His parents are very wonderful and kind people… though, they can be a bit… hmmm… crazy I guess? They helped us back during the war just before any of you were born. It's no wonder really why Jay doesn't fit in with Wu and the other boys; like his parents, he's a sweet and caring inventor at heart".

"War? You mean the one that my father was exiled for because he helped the bad guys?" the red haired girl in orange asked and Misako nodded for her answer. "Are we gonna have to live in a trailer?" she asked next, groaning just a little when noticing no houses were on the premises.

"I don't know but you three will not be rude, got it?" she asked. They girls sighed but agreed. "Good, and maybe for the time being, I'll be the one to teach you. No need you slacking off while Garmadon isn't around, right?" she knocked on the door.

After several thumping and crashing noises and the yelling of "Ed", a woman with dark brown hair pulled back and sapphire eyes that look just like Jay's answered the trailer door. "Mimi!" she looked so excited. "Oh, come in, all of you," she looked at the three girls filing in behind her. "Oh is that Lloyd!? He's so precious! I remember when Jay was that little!" she cooed at the almost two year old baby.

"It's great to see you again too Edna," Misako smiled. "Oh and Jay's just fine, we promise," she assured.

"Right now I'm more worried about what Garmadon told me over the phone yesterday he was going to do… gosh you must be worried sick yourself," she folded her hands together. "Anywho; who are these? Your students right? Oh they're so cute too!"

Nya blushed a little at the compliment and she held her hands behind her back and then suddenly remembered, _"Jay called me that when we fought at the monastery, didn't he?"_ She could see the family resemblance already with Jay and his mom alone.

"Oh are they here already? Guess I didn't see the car parked out front," the man they assumed to be Ed come inside, a welding mask on his head he flipped up as he set down a blowtorch. "Hey there Mimi! You guys can stay in the guest trailer!" he waved. He had hair more Jay's color with white in it.

"There's a guest trailer amongst all this garbage?" Seliel blinked, looking outside through the trailer window. _"Sheesh, how can people live like this?!"_

"Looks like my room at home," Nya giggled, joking around, though it was a half truth, her room in Ignacia was never the tidiest. "Hey is that a robot mech?!" her brown eyes were now glued to the window, staring at the machine sitting off to the left of the yard clearing in the center of the junkyard.

He looked a little sad about that being brought up but nodded, "Yep, Jay and I were working on before he left that day but… at least I know he's doing something good and isn't a little monster like the others Wu recruited…" he looked at the little black haired girl, "You like mechanics too then?"

"A little…" she shrugged, hoping he was going to let her help build it. "My daddy was showing me how to forge metal but I also like how stuff like robots work".

"Well by all means, come and help me out!" Nya's brown eyes light up.

* * *

Garmadon sat in the abandoned building, knowing his brother's servants and Jay would show up soon enough and he would have to fight them by himself if he wanted to get out of here. "Ugh maybe I'm just getting a little too old for this sort of garbage… and I'm only forty-two…" he mumbled to himself, resting the staff against the wall. "This is going to be very boring before it gets very exciting I think…"

He looked around the old and barren room and decided to cross his legs in a lotus position, "I don't know why Misako says I'm so patient," he chuckled as he mumbled to himself. "Just hurry up why don't you Jay? I just want to get this all over with and shake them off our tail for a while more…"

He thought about the four children that were with his wife, he promised not only to train them, but to protect them because now that they were his students, they would be hunted by Wu and harmed. "Oh I hope they aren't giving her too much trouble…" he thought about Misako teaching them.

* * *

"Spinjago? You sure the brat wasn't just lying to you?" Wu seemed highly suspicious and Jay was trying his best to look him in the eye. "Hmmm… okay then Jay… I will trust you… if I find this to be a lie… you won't get off that easy".

"She looked like she was telling the truth to me…" the freckled one uneasily grinned, "What's the harm in checking it out? Chen has interest there right? You want his help or not from his gang? It'll be like killing two birds with one stone!"

_"__Where's the boldness coming from?" _Wu thought it was strange. _"Ever since he got his ass beaten out by those two girls the other day and came in with all those bandages, he's more confident than he was last week…"_ He would worry about Jay's training later; instead he ordered them to go where Jay's lead was. "I'll join you later when you have made contact that you arrived and when I call Chen back and tell him I know where his daughter is now".

"Yes master," Kai bowed first and started out with the other three with him.

_"__I know Jay seems off… I don't know what happened but he looked pretty beat up when we found him…" Kai walked alongside the dark lord being everyone just got back and Kai was filling him in on everything before they would hold one big meeting with the other three ninja boys. "What do you want me to do?" the ten year old asked his master. _

_"__You're still in charge because you're the only one of the four I can trust… but you'll be sent to Spinjago and I want you to keep a close eye on Jay the whole time, he normally is an open book and is an awful liar… but today I couldn't read him... it was like gray area". Wu wiped his face, stressed from this new problem. "I don't even know what would be gained by him if this was a farce"._

_Kai shrugged a little, "So if it is, we'll know they're at the apartment Jay crashed into right and Jay was probably fooled?" _

_"__If you want to look at it positively then yes… but what if they split up now? This could be a diversion and I hate that… my brother and his wife are clever people and this could be a lead off and even tricked Jay or…"_

_"__You fear Jay could be compromised…" Kai finished for the older man. Wu nodded. "Then I'll see if there's a change in his behavior when we get to Spinjago!"_

_"__Good boy Kai, I can always count on you, can't I?"_

Wu sat on his throne, thinking over the conversation between him and Kai when coming back home. He hated it when there were too many outcomes and possibilities, it made his head hurt to plan for everything, one more reason Garmadon frustrated him. "You always wanted to flaunt how you're the older and wiser one, don't you brother?" he slammed his fist on the armrest of the throne angrily, causing an echo in the huge room. "You did in front of mother and father… in front of Misako… our so called friends… your friends… you had to be the best…"

_"__Betcha can't do a double back flip," Kasai Blackman sat back against the tree trunk in the middle of the monastery courtyard. All day he kept daring Garmadon to do some silly ninja trick being he was older and knew a bit more than him and the others._

_"__Kas you know I can do that why do you keep challenge me to do stupid and easy things?" the fifteen year old Garmadon looked at the twelve year old black haired boy. "I feel like a dog doing all these dumb tricks, but I'm not, so stop," he chuckled a little._

_"__Aw man; and I just brought the doggie treats out," Misako laughed, skipping out with Namiko and Tanaka walking over behind her. "Kas bugging you again?"_

_"__Brilliant deduction," Garmadon laughed. "Hey, where's Wu?" he blinked when seeing his younger brother missing from the group._

_Misako sighed, "Take a good guess…" _

_"__Of course…" he scratched behind his ear, knowing exactly with the other fifteen year old meant by there, "why you so dressed up anyways?" he looked at his best friend._

_"__Namiko and I are going to go see a movie with Rose! That new one with the haunted statue thing," she told him, looking a bit excited to see it. "We'll see you guys later."_

_"__Uh, maybe I'll meet up with you and go and see it too," he leaned down and over so they were shoulder to shoulder, "if you're gonna go see a scary movie or whatever, you'll need a big strong man to protect you while you're watching it"._

_Misako blurted out her laughter, "Oh gosh you're fifteen Garmadon… some man you- Wait; are you asking me out on a date?" she looked up at his purple-blue eyes that looked different somehow to her, "oh my gosh; you're serious!" she blushed, covering her mouth. _

_"__Like it was a big secret he was crushing on you," Tanaka looked up, shaking his head, "I may not be interested in such things but I know a hopeless romantic when I see one Mimi, shame no one believed me"._

_"__Haha then why not?" she still looked a bit embarrassed being it was done in front of most of their friends, "Come on and change from your training gi if you don't wanna be late with us!" Garmadon left her side to run back up the stairs to his room. _

_The younger, twelve year old brother to the brunette boy was peeking through his window blinds at the five laughing and messing around with one another. His heart fell when he saw Garmadon and Misako walking away with linked arms, little Namiko scuttling along behind them. Now his blood boiled._

_"__Why are they always together?! Why does she like him!?" the blonde closed the blinds again, making his room almost pitch black. "Why do they all like him!? He's stupid and a show off…" his red eyes glowed in the darkness of his trashed room. It had several claw marks on the walls. "He was supposed to help me with this and it's like I don't even exist to him or any of them really!" _

Garmadon opened his eyes and stared at the floor thinking of old memories from decades ago, _"Brother why do you always think this is my fault…" he pinched the bridge of his nose. "You never wanted to come out of your room… and yet you wondered why she chose me… you isolated me and her and all of our friends over time… I wanted to help you and you pushed me away…"_

This was one thing that always frustrated him, his brother could rant and rage and in the end, he could have been happier if he let people help instead of complaining that they were bothering him. "Gosh it's been almost two days… I hope Jay's alright…" he laid back on his bag, yawning.

**Yay, I did finish this one :D And see? Ed and Edna are gonna be in the next few chapters :D And more flashbacks that will hopefully fill in more on stuff. **

**So that's all the time I have today for an a/n! Tryna win a an auction for a wig! toodles and thanks a bunch for reading!**

**~Mar**


	12. Chapter 12

Amongst training with Misako and the other girls, Nya busied herself with spending time with Jay's parents who were mechanic freaks through and through, and she fit in quite well. They always thought she was so cute with the tools and how she wanted to use the welder. After several days of asking, Ed finally showed her to use one.

Skylar and Seliel also were doing some bonding as in, using whatever garbage they found lying around as weapons so they could get use to spur of the moment fighting, it was tinkering in their own, unique way. Misako was grateful for some girl time but knew Lloyd just wanted daddy back with mommy and sisters.

"I know it's scary to not have him around, but even though your dad's a dummy, he's pretty smart and will somehow not get followed back to the other disclosed location we have in the city". She talked as if he could understand everything. "And in two months, you're second birthday will come and I promise, no almost death scenarios for anyone of us during that time". She tried to make light of it but it was necessarily working out for her.

"Hey! Misako! Check this out! I can do a one handed cartwheel!" she perked up when Skylar excitedly called for her to show off.

"I also made a little remote control racecar with Ed out of scraps!" Nya stuck her head inside and held a remote controller. "Edna taught me how to wire the signal!"

The green eyed woman smile and stood up with Lloyd in her arms, "I'm coming! Then you can show me everything you three have been up to!" she couldn't help but smile.

* * *

Jay swallowed as they entered the city limits of Spinjago City with the others after almost a two day trip from the Fire Temple exit of the Underworld. Kai kept a brown eye on the lightning ninja the whole time and so far, nothing looked too out of the ordinary Jay wise, he was still meek and clumsy and talked too much for the others' liking.

"So where the hell do you think they'll be… _Jay_?"

The sapphire eyed ninja jumped at the sound of his name after staring at the looming buildings of the west side district they were coming out of and entering the southern part of the city, "Wah- uh… I don't know… I thought you were the leader or something…" he pulled on the belt of his robes, mumbling.

The fire ninja's eyebrow quirked up, "Fine then, we'll go this way," he started down a street. "Zane and Cole; go that way and meet up around the block if you can't find anything out of the ordinary, kay?" The other two nodded and went separate ways for now.

Jay felt a pit in his stomach, why would Kai split them up like that!? _"He knows something… I bet Wu does too… I can't break… I just have to keep this up… I can do this… even though I'm way too much of an honest person… oh why did I have to find those stupid sensei and students!? I wish I broke my neck when I crashed and died or something…" _

"Everything okay back there Blue Jay?" Kai snarked. "Or are you tired already?"

_"__He's just gonna keep trying to wear me down…"_ Jay thought to himself again, "I'm fine… why don't we check out that building over there?" he sighed, seeing an old and vacant building that looked like the Garmadon described the other day.

"Sure," Kai made a turn and stopped, "Let's wait for Cole and Zane and then for Wu's instruction, if what he says is true, then we'll have members of Chen's gang milling around somewhere to surround the place when they see us go in… still can't believe he's trying to team up with those creeps…"

"Hehe… yea…" he tried to laugh along but what with the position he was in, it was no laughing matter, "Okay," Jay coughed shrugged and sat on the curb, arms folded and resting on his knees. _"I have no idea what's going to happen but if anybody suspects me then I'm screwed so badly…"_

* * *

Garmadon perked up when hearing the multiple footsteps and grabbed his staff, concealing the sheath under his jacket. He almost smiled when the four underlings of his brother walked in, Kai in the lead, "Welcome boys, would you like some tea? Been waiting for you a while now," he invited them and gestured to the tea pot to his right.

They pulled their weapons out and Garmadon shrugged, "Alright, if you're sure… it's jasmine," he rose to his feet, knowing they weren't going to back down. "Now… about why you're here…" he looked around, "Yes I'm on my own… what Seliel fed young Jay over there was simply a lie and now my wife, son, and students are somewhere you couldn't find them!" he cockily said to them just to see Kai get more riled up.

_"__But don't think you'll get away so easily brother!" _

The sensei looked behind at the looming shadow on the wall and remembered the evil presence he felt back in his room at the monastery. "Well… nice to see you too Wu," Garmadon pulled his sword out. "At least I know you cannot harm me all that much in that form of yours".

"But I'm sure Anacondrai gang members will… remember Chen? We had common interest here and he decided to help the boys out… I wonder how he will feel when he learns you hid his daughter away again!"

"Oh no…" Garmadon didn't see that one coming apparently, though when he thought about, he really should have. "Well…" he looked around, "That was really unexpected, bravo brother, truly a good move on your end".

"OH SHUT UP!" Wu snapped at his brother's aloofness. "Just tell me where your son is! Maybe I won't kill you and your students and you can all be my slaves once you hand the golden weapons over!" he laughed and vanished, "Now I'll just go tell Chen to move in, I wonder how he'll torture you!".

"Be my guest, I would love to see him again, it's been so long, I'm most positive he would love to catch up on what we've been up too all these years after the war, maybe he would like some tea," Garmadon kept trying to play off he was not intimidated but Wu knew when he talked like that, he really was. _"Oh how am I going to get out of this one?"_ he looked around for a window, hoping an old fire escape would be hanging around somewhere.

"Not this time my brother". The shadow cracked an eerie looking grin that broke the older's incredibly resilient poker face.

"Well…It's not like I'll tell you anything of where my wife and kids are anyways so this does seem like the only way to settle this at the moment…" he shrugged. "Shame I have to run, it was only a diversion so they could disappear without anybody on their tails." He bowed before turning.

Wu looked to the four boys, "WAIT! He's going use a Spinji-"

The sensei's purple tornado of energy ignited and knocked the four students back before the brother could finish his sentence. That was one thing they couldn't quite do as of yet. "I said… I have to run…" he looked back at Jay before sliding down the old banister of the building. "Now… all I have to do is make my way back to the j-"

"Ah Garmadon…"

The brunette stopped and sighed at another delay. "Hey Chen… you have a great daughter… quick learner… really… she made a bunch of new friends now, she seems a lot happier than when I first ran into her!"

* * *

Upstairs the four ninja boys groaned, hurting from being flung back the way they were. "Come on!" Cole shouted and started going for the stairs. Jay panicked and his fingertips emitted a spark of his lightning powers. "OUCH! JAY!" he looked back.

"S-sorry!" the blue ninja covered his mouth. "Accident! I swear! I do that when I'm nervous!"

Zane and Kai exchanged glances and turned their backs but Jay zapped them too. It was currently his only idea of a distraction. He was only nine after all. "Okay what the hell?! Are you aiming for us?!" Kai growled more and grabbed Jay's collar. "Which side are you even on!?"

"Your side!" Jay cried. "Always your side! I swear on my life!" the freckled boy didn't know what he was going to do, if he tried anything else they would know for sure he was stalling for Garmadon get away. "I can't fully control my powers sometimes! You're only making me more scared". He decided to shock the fire ninja again which did not help his cause.

The brunette glared at the lighter haired one and threw him to the ground, "Let's go guys!" the three took off with Jay trying to run to keep up down the stairs.

* * *

"Stop talking! I want my daughter back you sorry excuse for a warrior!" the cult leader pointed. "Clouse, take care of him?"

"Oh I have waited a long time to hear that!" the right hand stalked over while Garmadon clutched his staff while the other adjusted the straps on the gauntlet to his razor sharp gloves. This was going horribly south as far what he had planned out. Misako had every right to smack the hell out of him when she found out. Clouse swiped with his gold fingered cat claws. Well… if he ever had the chance to run back and tell her!

"Oh…" he stopped. "Duh!" he slung his bag over his other shoulder, threw his staff to the side and unsheathed the sword Misako made him carry along agin. "Come on… Clousy Clouse," he taunted with a bit of a smirk while he noticed the other members of their gang were closing in, making it impossible to just run. It was only a matter of time before Wu's boys would come down and tag team on him.

The black haired man growled at such a nickname. "How dare you think to even call me that again!" He clipped Garmadon's face before he could get the chance to raise the sword to block again. "You're brother was right to try and destroy you! You self righteous fool!"

"That is a very popular insult with my enemies these days isn't it?" Garmadon blinked, actually giving it some thought. "I would love to stay and catch up but I'm sure my kids miss me!" he ducked and parried, grazing his enemy's side with the blade which further enraged him.

He needed to think of something now that Clouse's hands were glowing purple, which was never a very good thing from his experience with the cult during the war they fought in together, before true natures started showing on everyone around him. "Maybe some other time we can do this…"

The sensei perked up, he had an idea… well a notion if you could call it that. _"The teleportation spells…"_ he dared to think. _"Oh what were they?" _He barely dodged another hit. Well so much for getting out of their unscathed; Misako would surely have a fit when he got back.

"Get him! Get him! You're supposed to be killing him! Not dancing with him!" Clouse snapped in Chen's direction with a deadly glare that read _"I start aiming at you next!" _and the master shut his mouth quickly.

Gaining those few moments of leeway, Garmadon mumbled what he hoped was the right incantation and braced for the worst. For he knew, it could be a spell that could make something explode, hopefully not him now that he actually thought about it.

_"__Ed and Edna's scrap yard… where my family is… please let this be right"._ Everything changed around him and he found himself collapsing to the ground, surrounded by what he defined as junk. _"Oh gods… please tell me I'm in the right junkyard and not that one down the block from where I was just fighting…"_

* * *

Zane reached the bottom first followed by Kai and Cole and later, Jay who collapsed at their feet, looking exhausted. "Where is he?" the white and black clothed one blinked.

"You guys are idiots! I bet you just let him get away!" Kai erupted while Cole sighed, pulling the shorter one back by his ninja hood.

"Listen you brat! How dare you talk me like that!" Clouse bent over and Kai stuck his tongue out childishly, making the other scowl.

"But he's right… you are going to find him again if it's the last thing you do!" Wu's shadow appeared on the side of the building. "And you will not cease until they all are found and accounted for!"

Chen stepped up next to the huge shadow, "Nu-uh, no way, deal's off! You keep having us chase wild geese! When we follow you I hit a dead end!" he looked back at the gang members, "Come on! Chop chop! Back home all of you! We'll do our own hunt!" he looked back at the shadow and flipped the dark lord off, not really the best thing to do.

"Well you just lost a bunch of allies…" Cole mumbled sadly.

Wu scoffed, "Like it matters. I'll get back at him for doing that later. Right now… what slowed you down from getting to the fight!?"

The three who were standing exchanged glances before looking at poor Jay and pointed to him, "He zapped us... several times…" Zane informed.

The shadow looked down to poor Jay, expecting an explanation from him, "Nervous habit!" Jay quickly said, shielding his face. No one really said anything but Cole and Zane bent over and grabbed him by the arms, almost like they were escorting a prisoner to the Underworld. Jay felt like he was going to throw up.

* * *

"Garmadon!" he heard muffled shouting and three pairs of feet quickly ran out to him. "You're back! How did you do that?!" Skylar asked, looking in awe. "What happened?! We saw a flash of light…" They helped him to sit up being his head was spinning.

"W… where's… where's Misako…" he closed his eyes, holding a hand to his head. More quick feet came and he looked up at his wife, "Oh it's good to see your face my love…"

"What happened to yours may I ask?" she raised an eyebrow. He then remembered the swipe he took and raised his hand to find some blood. He nervously laughed. "Oh come on…" she extended a hand and helped him up on his feet. "You can tell us everything once we take care of that… it doesn't look _that_ bad."

* * *

"So it was a diversion…" Wu testily said, looking down at Jay. The other three took big steps back, not wanting to be around the poor freckled child they trained with. "Were you lying or were you really that ignorant to believe him Jay? And then you zapped your brothers to stall them to let him get away?" he tapped his fingers rhythmically on the stone armrest. "Well?" he asked when no answer came.

The blue and black clothed boy got on his hands and knees and lowered his head, "I… I was tricked… honestly sir… please don't hurt me sir! It was an honest mistake I swear!"

Wu looked at his blackened nails, not satisfied with his heartfelt plea for trust. "Cole, Kai, Zane… I want you to toss him in the dungeon and leave him there for a full twenty four hours… then we'll see if he is telling us the truth…"

The sapphire eyed apprentice squeezed his eyes shut. He knew what this meant; total darkness for twenty four hours with dead silence and no human contact at all. Wu did it to prisoners and even Skulkin when he was bored. He would be mentally broken enough that he couldn't think of lying without showing it. _"I don't want to be here anymore… please… sensei Garmadon, can't you just come down here and take me with you?!"_

He felt the other three pull at him to guide him to where he would be tortured by his own mind for a whole day.

"Meanwhile…" Wu sighed. "I'm going to have another chat with Chen about the current agreement we had about common interests… he owes me for letting my brother get away from the both of us now… no matter what deal he think he has broken off… and if he still is not cooperating… well I will have fun dealing with that!" the dark lord stood up and disappeared again. "Kai's in charge". He dared to inform as he was leaving.

**Oh no... what will I do to Jay this time!? It is for the good of my plotline I swear! Oh look at that snark Garmasass... put the bloody tea away man they come to end you XD And Jay baby you should have taken off with Garmadon while you had the chance, the man can;t just waltz into the Underworld and whisk you away... gosh I'm so sorry for what I do to you later baby...  
**

**Soooooo... I believe after the next chapter we're gonna do a time jump. Just a warning in the case you guys get confused :) **

**Thanks a bunch for reading! **

**~Mar**


	13. Chapter 13

Skylar sighed, "So… my dad was there…" she pulled her knees up to her chest. The "family" of ninja were sitting around on Ed and Edna's couch while Garmadon explained everything before he ended up at the junk yard. "He wants me back but not because he misses me… does he?"

"I can't speak for him…" the teacher laid a hand on her head. "But your father and his friends were never up to good no matter what they would do. You have the power to copy any and every element you touch; I think that he thinks that's pretty much the only valuable thing about you". She looked down, like she was about to cry. "Hey, don't do that," he told her, wiping under her eye where the tear started to slip, "You are valuable in so many ways".

"Like what? Name one other reason… You invited me to be with you guys because of my powers…" The darker skinned girl wiped her bright eyes herself.

"Hey, I wanted you out of a toxic environment more so," he poked her nose, "Each one of your girls is special and unique… in more ways than just the powers you have inherited from your ancestors. I chose each one of you based on your spirit… the three of you are kind and brave and perfect, you could have given up when you came to stay with us and you didn't, don't you think that would count for something?"

"Man, I'd rather you be my dad…" the amber ninja smiled a little more.

"Only if you want," he sat back, sighing. "I'm just worried about Jay now personally… no doubt something bad will happen to him… which is why we need to end this and soon…" he looked to his almost two year old son in his wife's arms, sleeping, happy to know his father was back safely with them.

Seliel looked up, "So really… what now? Where are we gonna go? What are we gonna do!?" the pink haired girl asked. "I don't wanna stay here much longer… it kind of smells sometimes…"

"But I like living with Ed and Edna! I learned a whole lot about mechanics and building stuff!" Nya proudly chirped to her sensei. "We worked on a ninja robot!" she explained.

"Perhaps… we'll return home to the monastery soon…" Garmadon mindlessly responded, wondering what to do himself. "I… just want to do one thing before we do that however…" the girls looked at him eagerly, "I want to hide the golden weapons where Wu can't get to them so easily".

The girls' eyes widened in curiosity.

* * *

Wu opened the door, "Times up Jay," the dark lord smirked as the auburn haired boy looked back, not even speaking. "Now… about… yesterday… how about we talk about what happened there."

"They've been in there a while…" Cole looked at the door. "Wonder what's happening in there…" it didn't sound like they were talking and if Wu was beating him with his staff they would surely hear it. They had a feeling however, Wu was smarter than to just physically punish.

Kai shrugged, "Who cares… if Jay was lying to us then he should have seen this coming! You know the last guy who went in there couldn't talk for a whole month…" he chuckled. "And Jay's so scrawny and pathetic… imagine how much worse he'll be!"

"Pathetic or not, we should not treat one another in such ways… we may be rivals for Wu's favorite but if we do not pull together then we'll all suffer when we fail a task, and I do not want to end up in there myself personally". Zane folded his arms, reminding them of this fact. The other two looked at one another groaned but nodded, they couldn't quite argue with that one.

"Now stay in until you're ready to tell me what really happened!" they all heard Wu shout at the top of his lungs and a cell door was slammed again. The three stared with wider eyes as their master stalked out, looking down at the boys with his evil eyes, "Let Jay be a lesson to you three that if you dare to cross me in any way… you will be punished".

The boys gulped.

* * *

Lloyd laughed as his father lifted him up over his head; his little feet kicking and Garmadon brought him back down again, kissing his cheek. "That's right… I love you," he touched noses with the little boy. "And we can go back home soon I promise…" he kissed his cheek again. "You girls ready to get going again?" he looked over to the right to see the three students and his wife getting up.

"Two more to go…" Misako picked up the golden nunchucks. "Wu used to use these… didn't he?" she sadly asked, looking at her husband. "How are we all so unfortunate?" she looked at the gold plated weapons with pain in her heart, "He never used to be this crazy…"

"We're going to fix things," he looked at Nya who was carrying the golden sword in it's sheath as best she could. "It's been a week and so far if Jay cracked, they haven't found us and Ed and Edna said they would call if they were under attack… I say we're doing good as of now…" the sensei sighed, feeling Skylar hold his free hand.

"So why are we hiding these with dragons anyways? And how do you know they're not just friendly to everybody, not just us?" Seliel asked, curious as to what he was planning.

"First off, no, those dragons, when put to a challenge of protecting something valuable will not fail to carry out it's duty. And came to the conclusion that Wu needs the weapons for his army and he needs to kill my son to get rid of the future downfall threat… figured… if they all weren't in the same place… that'll slow him down quite a bit and buy Lloyd time because he will need the weapons to escape the Underworld," the teacher looked back at her with a smile. "Trust me, I may be an idiot but I'm not stupid".

He earned a laugh from his wife, "Nah, you're both without a doubt". Lloyd seemed to laugh as well. "How's the face?"

"Meh… it'll scar but I'll get Clouse back for it next time I see him," her husband smirked. "Now come on, I'm tired running around Ninjago… I wanna be home and get some decent sleep". The students hopped along as if they were ducklings.

His wife just shook her head more at his nonchalant attitude towards injuries like that, "If you keep behaving like that about getting maimed your whole body will be covered in scares like that…" she trailed along behind the girls, worried he would get himself killed one day.

* * *

Wu sat Jay down. The poor boy was trembling and he had dark circles under his eyes. "Okay Jay," he had a pleasant smile on his face. "Now… I heard Cole shoved you off a building… but when you crashed through that window… you didn't just run into Misako and the first two girls… no you ran into all of them… right?"

Jay gave an empty look at the man he called master. He swallowed and gave up, nodding. The master nodded as well, "Good… Now do you know where they ran off while Garmadon was sent ahead to meet us and distract us?"

This was the moment of truth. The lightning ninja had to tell the truth or else Wu would toss him back in again and would be tortured until he gave up the correct story. "W… with my parents…" he wiped his eyes, "At the junkyard…" he could keep up with tears that started spilling; guilt shattering his heart. "B-b-but, I'm sure they've moved on and you'll never find them!"

Wu straightened up and smirked back at the freckled apprentice who so boldly told him that. "Oh sure… but I will always find them," he turned his back on the ten year old. "But… I'll be sending just the other three out… I'll be doing some _special_ training with you for a little bit, just you and me".

This was the first time in forever Jay felt so scared he could have thrown up just by the way Wu had said it. He didn't know what he meant exactly, but as sure as hell didn't want to find out what it meant. _"I have to get out of here… I have to run… this is it… he won't kill me but I know he'll do something even worse!" _thd thought ran through the boy's mind.

"For now… you'll be staying in this room by yourself," he pulled on the auburn haired one's sleeve, down the hallway a bit. "You won't get contact with the other boys for quite some time or as often as you are use to… this is what happens when you become an ally of my brother Mr. Walker".

Wu slammed the door and Jay heard the "kachunk" of the heavy lock. He sat in the farthest corner of the room, knees pulled up to his chest as he started to sob, wanting to be with his parents, wanting to see the light of day one last time and train with the kinder, older brother like the three girls who threatened to beat him up, he admired them, they were brave enough to stand up for the opposing side, they were tough and fast learners, unlike him.

"Help me… someone…" he wiped his nose.

* * *

"Home," Seliel closed her eyes and flopped back on her bed in the room she shared with Nya, closing her eyes and feeling exhausted from travelling all over Ninjago for the past week. "Ah… my bed… it smells just as it did…" she buried her face in her pillow.

Skylar looked around as Nya showed the newest addition around the place. "Here, you can sleep in here with us! We got lotsa room in here!" the brown eyed one grinned, gesturing to the room with two beds. "And we have a training course and everything we need to learn Spinjitsu right!"

Meanwhile Misako and Garmadon were in the nursery next to their own bedroom, Lloyd happily lying down, hugging some of his stuffed animals as he drifted off in a peaceful nap. "Do we have another place to hide in the case should we need to again?" she looked down, feeling his hands on her hips, hers at his waist.

"A few places in mind… don't worry… I'll ensure we'll be safe…" Garmadon kissed the top of her head. "For now we should not bother to worry. We are home and we'll be training the girls fulltime now". He wrapped his arms tightly around his wife, wondering himself how long it would be until a new problem arose.

* * *

It was quiet that night. Nya, Seliel, and Skylar were all asleep in the youngest girl's bed being they were all talking up a storm until midnight when they simply flopped over and drifted off on their own. Garmadon sighed with a smile as he picked up Seliel first and then Skyla, tucking them away and then pulled the covers over Nya's smaller body, caressing her cheek for a moment.

She was the first; the first and only one to see Kai leave to follow his brother, she was a little girl who ran all the way to the base of the mountain and then climbed her way up, just to find him and then she agreed to stay with him and Misako because she wanted to right her brother's wrong. They were not so different in several ways now that he had thought about it. They had been together the longest and though Lloyd loved all the girls, he and Nya had a better bond.

"You're too young for this Nya… all of you are… no child should have to have the worries that you are bearing…even Kai, Zane, Cole, and especially Jay…" he closed his eyes, "And Lloyd as well…" he shook his head a little more and quickly left the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Why should mere children hold the burden laid by the two whom the fight is truly between…?" he wandered back to bed and tried to find sleep.

**I know I probably said this before but what with Garmadon's dialogue in "The Invitation" on how he talked about Nya and always seemed to respect her in general (sometimes more than certain ninja and sensei...), I felt it was only right to have him be a confidence booster for all of his girls. Like really just think about the domestic idea of him adopting and raising three teenage girls... I can't stop thinking about it... I may do one shots later on... gaaaaah **

**Okay besides this... ****_I know you all must be freaking out over Jay hahahahahahaha_**** yes I am evil and you should fear what I will do with him like your lives depended on it. You all need a reason as to why Jay would be on the bad guys team for a good stretch of the story right? *evil eye* **

**So thanks for reading ^-^ (and just warning, there will be a time jump next week! :D) **

**~Mar**


	14. Chapter 14

It was a humid August day. Three girls of the ages eleven and ten ripped through the fighting dummies that came in their path; determined and cold looks in their turquoise, amber, and brown eyes. Each dummy they had painted black, white, or red markings to symbolize their enemies, their dark equals that were trained by their sensei's younger brother to destroy their brother, and they trained to protect him.

When finished they ended with a low bow. A pair of small hands clapped and they looked up with smiles on their faces, no longer looking like fierce children of destruction. "Yay!" the green eyed toddler laughed at seeing they were finished. "I try! I try! Now!" he tugged at his father's pant leg. "Dada! I try that!" he insisted.

"Oh you start out on easier things… they've been at this for over three years," Garmadon scooped his almost four year old son up, kissing his forehead. "Since you were a tiny little baby". No words could describe how happy the child made him, just knowing that he was doing a good enough job keeping him and really all of them safe. "Now come Lloyd, why don't you get your gi on, hmm? Maybe today we will try something new today," he asked.

"KAY!" Lloyd piped and wriggled from his father's grip.

The sensei chuckled and took a seat beside his three oldest students, "My you kids are giving me gray hair…" he ruffled Nya's raven black hair. "You all are so powerful and lovely all at the same time…"

They three leaned against his sides. Nya and Seliel had seen their parents several times over the past years, wrote to them and still very much loved him, but they would call Garmadon their father. They were like sisters, so close and happy to say they were a team.

"Hey can we help train Lloyd today?" Seliel asked. "We promise it won't go like last time…" The last time was two months ago and it ended up with Lloyd almost falling off the roof, Garmadon still didn't find out exactly how the four children got up there let alone why.

"Yea! Please Garmadon?!" Skylar folded her hands together looked up, batting her dark eyelashes.

"Oh how can I deny you girls the chance to train your brother?" He chuckled, "Alright then," he stood up, "The students may play teacher for today… but I want you to keep up the course training yourselves… got it?" they all nodded, "Good because I can't wait to see your Spinjitsu tornadoes when they're full developed," he smiled before walking inside, seeing Lloyd waddle past him, dressed in the same gi that he, Misako, his brother once wore a life time ago.

"Hey," he came out of his thoughts when his wife came over, surprising him with a sweet kiss. "So… he's practicing more…" though happy to see him so excited, there was a sadness to her voice. Sure Lloyd would want to learn in their ways when he was older no matter the situation if Wu was evil or not… it was the fact that he was training solely to stop Wu was the hard part to watch.

"Yes…" Garmadon let out a breath, seeing Nya bend over, showing Lloyd to bow like how they do when training with him. Lloyd clapped his hands before repeating like how she did. "At least I know he won't be so lonely…" he hugged Misako tightly. "I wish we had more… I really do…"

"It was hard… but we at least we have Lloyd… and now we got them… even if they aren't our biological ones," she kissed his cheek. "You look tired… have you been sleeping?" she looked concerned. "Is something more bothering you?"

He nodded a bit before lowering his head, "Yes… I'll admit there is…" he let go of her and slowly walked down the hallway, gesturing to her, "There's something I never showed you ever since… that night…" She stared at him before taking his hand to follow behind.

"This is Wu's room…" she swallowed, seeing he was unlocking the door. "Garmadon what are you doing? You always keep it locked…"

"If you want to understand my fears… you'll look inside… for almost four years I kept this room locked… terrified of how you would react that night… you were sobbing yourself to sleep… I didn't want to cause anymore distress…" he let out a breath before opening the door at last.

His wife stared into the room before daring to step inside, "Oh gods… what was he going through?" she saw the dried blood and broken sections of the walls. It looked just like a crime scene. "Why didn't he want our help…?" she had to look away. The two heard the laughter of the four children outside, "Lock this room and… and never open it again…" she quickly walked down the hallway. "Not until he's gone…"

"As you wish…" he quietly agreed with her. They could easily fix it up and each girl could have their own room but evil seemed to make its home in there that scared even him. Never would he let one of his children in this room under any circumstances.

* * *

Kai laid back on his bed; Zane and Cole were occupying themselves with sharpening weapons and such, throwing them into the walls and if they didn't stick, they would sharpen them more. They were now thirteen and twelve; nearly two and a half years and they seen very little of their lightning brother, ever since he lied to them all. From what it looked like, Wu was training him the "hard way" he promised to only use when necessary; breaking their spirit.

"Get out here boys!" they heard their master call for them at last. The three looked at one another, wondering if this had something to do with Jay. "Good…" Wu chuckled. "I want you to meet the new Jay… and I'm most certain he will never dare to stand bold against me again."

Jay's sapphire eyes were dull as he avoided the looks of his team members. He was fair skinned to begin with but now he looked almost completely white. Cole and Zane gulped and looked to Wu. Another reason Wu probably did this, to ensure their loyalties.

"Now we have much to discuss… it's been nearly a full two years!" he took a seat and Jay stood limply beside the other three. "I've been biding in all honesty… it's done well for your Spinjitsu training I think… just by your improvements I mean".

"Thank you sir…" Kai bowed a little. "What is it that you wish of us now… if I may be so bold?" the fourteen year old fire ninja glanced up.

"Chen's withdrawn from the deal from what I found out… but it doesn't matter now because if I catch any of Garmadon's brats, if they will not join me; I will end them, including Skylar". He gave a closed mouth chuckle, "And to top that off… I managed to get that sorry excuse for a mastermind caught by the authorities and exiled back to his god forsaken island". He kicked his feet up with a rather amused laughed that echoed the Underworld fortress.

"So you've been busy then sir…" Kai managed to say in response to that.

"Oh yes… now… I may know that my brother is back at our old home… but needless to say I haven't dared to make a move… he split up my prizes…" the dark lord folded his hands together, "He keeps his son with him but he split up all four of the golden weapons… the objects I need in order for you to wield and get me out of this stink hole".

"Where would we even begin?" Cole blinked. "Which weapon? Where would your brother place them? I'm sure it'd be under some form of protection master!"

Wu's red eyed gaze shifted back to Kai. "Your parents… my brother would only trust such a precious piece of parchment with them alone. You will go there and trick it from your parents. Understand this; if you fail you will get what Jay has gotten".

The blue and black clothed one seemed to hang his head in shame at the mention of that. It was decided that the other three would rather obey his every command then receive the severe punishment of their brother. "Off with you now!" he shouted rather crankily. "When you get the map, bring it back here and we go from there on whose weapon you will retrieve first!"

"Yes sir!" the four bowed in unison and started out.

* * *

Misako found the four children all passed out, sleeping together on the couch, tired no doubt from all their training and playing. Lloyd had that effect on people it seemed, being the girls normally had so much energy as well. She turned and grabbed a blanket being they looked rather cold the way they were all cuddling together.

The wind abruptly blew the shutters of their home open, the tree outside rattling, giving her a feeling of foreboding since it was clear out all day. "Something bad is going to surely happen…" the green eyed woman couldn't help but stare at the oncoming summer storm clouds.

Normally she and Garmadon loved storms and rain. But a warm breeze blew like it always did during summer storms. Misako looked down and locked the windows, "I'm sure it's nothing…" she sighed and walked back to her room, leaving the kids in peace.

**That's right, Jay's under Wu's foot now... don't worry I will provide flashbacks to show you bits and pieces of what happened. But yes, time jump because I was running out of ideas so yeaaa... ML-Awesomeness is gonna kill me... aren't you? XD**

**Thanks a bunch for reading! **

**~Mar**


	15. Chapter 15

Rain pounded the clay tiled rooftops of Ignacia and the surrounding towns that were caught up in the late summer storm that always affected the more northern regions. Kasai and Namiko Blackman were done with the day's work, peacefully wrapped in each other's arms, asleep like most other couples in their small town. They had been so lonely since Kai ran away and Nya chose to train with their old friend, knowing she probably grew accustomed to the sensei and his wife as her parents and the monastery her home, and even Lloyd as her own brother now.

Of course they knew she still loved them as much as any child could love their true mom and dad, and they had made plans to go up there the next day to visit even, a bit of a surprise to their daughter. They always enjoyed reading her letters and the pictures she sent when they couldn't find time to make friendly visits.

Thumping of the door was heard and the two wearily got up from their night's rest, wondering who it could be at midnight, perhaps some dog or maybe even just a tree branch thumping on against a window or door. Kasai wiped his dark brown eyes before opening the door.

The two stared at the sight before them.

"Mom… dad…" Kai threw his arms around the two, so drenched his normally wild brown hair was flat and hanging in his eyes. The pair was stunned, wondering if this was merely a dream they were having. "Mom? Dad?" he blinked, shivering even, "please… there isn't much time… the others could be right behind me…" he looked behind him like he was paranoid.

Namiko pulled him inside quickly and shut the door, running to the bathroom to pull a towel out, wrapping it around her soaked son, tears in her eyes. "Oh Kai…" she held a hand to his cheek, "My baby boy…" she sniffed. "You came home…" she hugged him again though he was drenched still.

"What happened?! Garmadon said that you went freely with Wu… Nya's told us you tried to harm Misako and her baby boy back when she first started training!" his father wanted to know what was really going on. He was happy to see his son back, but unlike Namiko, he thought something was up. Kai suddenly returning like this? It was too good to be true.

"I couldn't take it anymore! Wu bullied me along with the other boys… I'm so sorry I ever thought about being like him!" he looked as though he was going to start crying and Namiko squeezed him tighter, kissing the top of his head. More footsteps sounded and the three looked up. "Oh no…" Kai bit his lip.

"Is that… the three?" Namiko asked. Kai nodded back to her meekly. "It'll be okay… we won't let you go so easily again!" she stood up and pulled a sword off the rack. "Kas… come on," she quietly told him.

The fire ninja looked up at the ceiling and smirked, while his parents went to investigate the noise upstairs.

_"__Kai you will go to your parents' house in the middle of the night and plead them to let you in," Wu looked down at his fire pupil. "Make them fear for your safety and the other three will pretend they are hunting you down for punishment for running away"._

_Kai nodded at his words, "I'll sell it alright if it means I get that sword of fire," the brunette smirked wide at the thought of wielding such a weapon against his enemies. _

_Wu nodded, happy to see they were ready to move out and claim the map, "Aright then boys, go out and fetch me the hidden map. Don't harm the two unless necessary and they're giving you too much of a fight. Got it?"_

_"__Yes master!" the four bowed and moved out. _

Kai remembered his orders clearly and so did the others now. There would be no mistakes on their end this time, there would only be a victory.

* * *

Misako turned on her side, falling in and out of drowsiness to her husband's annoyance as he was being woken up as well by her tossing and turning. "I'm sorry but can you pick a position?" he quietly asked, just wanting to cuddle with her. She opened her eyes and remained quiet, "Hey… something's wrong isn't it?" he could feel it too now.

After a moment of silence, thinking of what it could be that was so wrong, they perked up, "Kasai and Namiko!"

They threw the covers off and scrambled to get proper clothes on being the storm was thundering on overhead and it was a hike down the mountain. All the while the kids heard the racket of them getting dressed and Lloyd waddled in, blanket and stuffed bear in hand, sucking on his thumb. "Lloyd…" They completely forgotten they had young kids to look after.

Misako bent over and picked him up, "Wake the girls, tell them we will be back and they are to watch you… just in the case we do not return by morning," she kissed his head and set him back down, though their child looked rather confused at what was happening around him, he scuttled out of the bedroom to find his older sisters. "Alright, let's go and warn them…"

The two threw their jackets on and ran through the gates of the monastery, down the carved rock steps as fast as they could.

* * *

Kai wasted no time in starting his own search while the other three were distracting his mother and father, checking every drawer and cabinet, growing more and more frustrated with every place he checked. "It has to be here somewhere!" he growled to himself, almost feeling like giving up.

He kicked the door post of the front entrance to the workshop and a piece of parchment floated down from the rafters. The fire ninja blinked and looked up, then back down, bending over to pick the paper up, a wide grin creeping on his face. "I don't believe this!" he looked around and started up the stairs to tell the others they had to scram.

"Kai! You…" his father looked at the rolled up map in his son's grip, his surprised look fading from his aged faced. "Oh I see what this is…" he clenched his teeth as he looked down on his twelve year old son. "You came for that… you haven't changed at all have you after all this time…"

"I'm Wu's right hand! Why the hell would I give that up when he believes in me and promised the world was not just gonna his, but mine too?!" he stomped, stowing the map away in his ninja robes.

"Stop talking crazy!" Namiko turned and gripped his shoulder tightly. "We always have loved you and shown it plenty! Look at your sister; she's training and learning her own powers and it hasn't gone to her head! She would rather help people instead of enslaving them like what you're trying to do!"

"Nya, Nya, Nya!" Kai smacked her hand away, "There you go again! Comparing me to her like I always hear!" he sniffled. "You guys haven't changed either! Why can't I be my own person!? Why am I always compared to my little sister?! 'Nya's gonna be a great blacksmith like her daddy!' 'Nya's so tough, she doesn't even cry and carry on'! 'Nya's just so sweet and agreeable!'" he shouted in a mocking tone.

The front door could be heard opening, "KAS! NAMI!" It was Garmadon and Misako. "Kai and the others are coming for the map!"

"We know!" Kasai shouted back, gaze held at his son who glared defiantly back at him. "Oh we know…"

The other couple raced up the stairs and Misako looked up. "Watch out!" the other three boys revealed themselves from their hiding position. "Jay, is that you…?" she whispered. They never received contact from the young blue ninja again but they didn't think he would look this bad.

"My loyalties lie with Master Wu…" the freckled one raised up a pair of nunchucks, "And I will carry out what he wishes… and that is delivering this map to him…" he was the first to jump out the window followed by Zane and Cole, Kai lingering a moment longer and made a break for it as well.

"They got it…" Garmadon whispered. "DAMN IT!" he slammed a fist against the wall. He stayed frozen like that for a short while, before his wife walked over to him, gently lowering his arm back to his side. "Now we're back where we started with our worrying…" their foreheads touched gently.

Misako's eyes wandered back over to their friends and she walked over to hug them both, "We're sorry for dragging you further into this mess… and if you want… we'll stop asking you for help," she quietly told them.

"So you're saying you want us to stay out because you're afraid we'll get hurt further?" Kasai asked. "We have nothing left to lose…" he looked at his daughter's teacher who looked at him, surprised as well, "We share a daughter now, she;s not just ours anymore… she's in your care and if you came into trouble we wouldn't hesitate to help you protect her and any others you have…"

"You both are too good of friends…"

"It's because we're not… we're a family… in case you forgot…" Namiko looked down. "It may feel like a lifetime since we lived under the same roof and trained and fought as brothers and sisters… but we still are". The brown eyed woman looked like she was about to cry again. "If you think for one second we would turn our backs on our family… you both better rethink our relationship…"

* * *

They returned home to find Nya, Skylar, and Seliel sitting up on the couch, blankets wrapped around them and Lloyd who was on Nya's lap, watching something on the TV. When they heard the shoji doors shut the four turned around to stare at the sensei and his wife, downcast faces, dripping wet from the rainstorm.

"We need to talk…" Misako quietly said. Nya quickly turned the TV off and they all sat around on the floor.

Lloyd waddled over to his parents who hugged him tightly. "Jay has been compromised…" Garmadon's voice sounded empty, avoiding Nya's eyes. "I have no idea what my brother did to him but we can only hope he can be turned on the right path again…" The three girls looked down at this news. "And Kai… he stole the map… they all did… and it will be a matter of time before they're strong enough to take down the dragon guardians I gave the weapons to".

"What do we do now?" Seliel folded her hands together, placing them in her lap. "What can we do? They just don't stop…"

"I… I just don't know anymore…" Garmadon had answered sadly to the eleven year old student. "After he gets the weapons he'll hunt Lloyd down… he won't be safe at all with my brother on the loose in physical form again… he'll be after you three as well…"

The green eyed toddler looked up, wondering what all of this meant. His mother held him close to her chest, kissing his soft, blonde hair. "We'll have to stop them… or… I don't know…" she wiped her eyes. "We can't go down there and end Wu because only Lloyd can do that and the girls aren't fully trained…"

"I will have to make a few calls…" Garmadon sat back against the couch. "I'm certain some of our old friends would be more than happy to help the guardian dragons protect the golden weapons…" he caressed his wife's cheek, "I promised that you all would be kept safe… I've kept it this far haven't I?" he stood up, "Right now… I want you all to just get some sleep, for now you still are safe… in the morning we will train until we hear otherwise of my brother and his students… it's the only thing we can do right now".

"Yes sensei Garmadon…" the three girls quietly nodded their heads in unison before getting up and going back to their beds.

Misako followed behind them, making sure they really were as unafraid as they appeared to be. "Good night… and don't worry about what's happening… you should be carefree and happy like every other child should be…" she told them before starting to head into Lloyd's room to tuck him away last.

"Misako?" she looked back at Skylar who was sitting up on the bed. "Were you happy and carefree as a kid? Were any of you?"

The older woman looked down and sighed, "Some days we felt like we were on top of the world… and other nights we knew there were monsters we would have to go out face as Ninjago's 'destined' protectors… one we never thought we would have to face was Wu… No… we were not always so happy and free like how it should have been… burdens were placed on myself and many others my age… and now I feel terrible we're placing the same thing on you four… when we found Lloyd was coming… we didn't want this in the slightest… but we will help you through all of this… that I _can_ promise you…"

She was quiet for another moment as she felt Lloyd nod off, resting his head on her shoulder, "You are not alone though… we have friends… allies…" the girls slowly nodded. "Now get rest… and have sweet dreams". She smiled just a little bit at them.

The three looked at one another and nodded at her words before laying back down, trying to find sleep, but it now eluded everyone in the monastery.

**Yes I just did that. No I don't regret it. I plan on a Jay and Nya encounter soon... hehehe... and no I cannot I say when Pixal will join in on the adventure. **

**So thanks for reading, see ya!**

**~Mar**


	16. Chapter 16

A month went by since the four boys stole the map from Kasai and Namiko and no word came from anybody in their very small circle of allies. It was nerve wracking for there to be simply "no word" from everyone and anyone. He had friends throughout the entire land mass including surrounding isles.

"Are you sure we have people everywhere surrounding the four places we hid the weapons?" Misako's knee bounced up and down several times as she worried over everything.

Her husband nodded, "Kasai and Namiko are keeping watch on their end over the fire temple and the road to the caves of despair, in Spinjago, Shen promised to keep an eye out as well. Crevan also is keeping watch and has several of his men posted as lookouts on the roads through Birchwood…"

He started counting on his fingers, "Griffin is back home in Astor keeping an eye out for anybody on the path to the ice palace and to the floating ruins. Tanaka is in the town closest to the ruins... Anthony lives in Shigan so he's also watching over the floating ruins and Jacob is back in his home town of Sina… Neuro is in Eastburgh in the Merida Province when I called him… he has a family too now but he said he would help all the same."

"Don't we have anybody else?" Misako asked.

Garmadon let out a sigh, "Just a few others who Neuro knows… he has a friend in Metalonia with a family of his own. He said he would keep an eye on things as well up north… Anthony also has a brother in-law, a shadow master who lives with him and his kids… any other friends he has does not live over that way… most of them are too far down south, past the Corridor of Elders even."

"It'll have to do I guess…" she sighed, giving up a bit on pestering him about such things. "I just wish we were stronger… Wu has an entire army of skeletons… I know we're elemental masters… but still… I feel helpless… I start to question whether I was good leader or not back in the old days…"

"I worry about the same things… don't question yourself like that, you're a great leader. I'd be dead many times without you ya know…" he kissed her temple which made her smile just a bit.

Everyday brought more things that made the both of them tired; worries over the kids' training, worries over the kids' well-being in general, the golden weapons falling into bad hands, and everything else in between that. "But who knows really… more might join in and go to other places to help watch over the roads…" he tried to comfort her worries more.

"Of course… right…" the lighter brunette wiped her face, "I'm sorry…" she apologized with a sigh.

"For what?" he blinked at her random apology.

"For bothering you like this when you should just leave the guarding to our friends and the dragons…" she mumbled and felt him move closer, hugging her smaller body closer to him. "I wish none of this was happening right now…" she looked like she was about to cry, "I just wanted to raise Lloyd to be a normal child… not someone with a… a destiny… a destiny like this anyways…"

Garmadon ruffled her wavy hair a little, "You don't think I feel the same? Let's be happy he's still alive for now when there were several times Wu could have killed him… okay? Maybe it's his destiny to win and stay alive… Have you ever considered that? Didn't you say it would be the green ninja who would conquer the darkness?"

"Yea… maybe… I hope that's correct…" she closed her eyes. "If we lost him…" she sniffed, "I don't know what I would do…"

"Mommy! Mommy, mommy, mommy!" Lloyd's shouting came and the parents looked behind them, over the couch backing. Lloyd was practically tripping over his own two feet to get inside to them. His mere presence brightened their lives up and his parents quickly started smiling again. "Here," he placed a huge pink flower in her lap, one she recognized from the tree in the courtyard being it was still blooming.

His mother held a hand to her chest and picked the fairly large sized flower up, "Aww, thank you Lloyd," she felt Garmadon take it from her and put it in her hair for her. The little blonde crawled up into her lap and hugged her. "That was very sweet of you my little one," she kissed him right between the eyes and he kissed her back right away, making her laugh a bit.

Garmadon rested his head on his wife's shoulder, caressing the top of his little four year old's head. "You're such a sweet little boy… aren't you? What a nice thing to do for mommy" he smiled wider when the toddler grinned back, holding his father's hand before the sensei grabbed him, cuddling him close while his son squealed with delight when he kissed him several more times.

"Cus' mommy's the prettiest," he giggled more, looking up at her and blushing a bit. "Oh, daddy!" he looked up at his father, suddenly remembering there was something he wanted to tell him. "Nya use Spinjitsu!" he piped.

"What!?" the sensei started getting up, stilling carrying his son and looked outside to see Seliel and Skylar sitting on the deck, watching as Nya stepped through the motions and a crystal blue tornado appeared around her and ceased when she stopped on command, looking so graceful as she did.

The black haired girl looked up and smiled from her ending stance at her teacher, "Did you see!? Did you see me!?" she ran up the steps and hopped into her hug for him, careful to not make him drop Lloyd. "My power's water!" she squealed even more with excitement. "It's water, just like my mom's!" she hopped around more, giggling like an idiot, Skylar and Seliel holding her hands and hopping with her as well.

"Yes! I saw just now as you finished," Garmadon hugged Lloyd closer. "Excellent form," he praised. "I look forward to seeing you two get the hang of it as well!" he looked to the other two who smiled back, feeling more confident that they actually _could_ do it. "Then you can teach Lloyd when he's your age!"

"Like my sisters, I do Spinjitsu!" Lloyd held his hand in the air, climbing down his father and spinning around clumsily while his sisters laughed and gathered around him.

"That's right Lloyd!" Seliel caught the dizzy toddler first, "We're gonna teach ya everything Garmadon taught us!"

Skylar looked at Nya, "Right after Nya teaches us that of course…" she reminded the oldest girl.

Garmadon leaned against the doorframe as he watched them behave like they were really siblings, he couldn't be happier. He looked up at the cloudy sky and beckoned the others to come in, "Alright, the forecast says there's gonna be another storm for the next couple of days and I don't want you all catching colds training in it. We can do some inside training".

The four hopped along inside and he closed the doors. "Go take a break, after dinner I'll see how your sparring is coming along, okay?"

"KAY!" they all shouted from the TV room in unison.

* * *

Below the land of the living, in the darkest depths of the Underworld, the dark lord Wu opened up the map his students had stolen. It was a bit hard to read at first but he knew where each of the four locations were; The Ice Palace to the north, the Fire Temple to the east, the Floating Ruins to the west, and the Caves of Despair towards the south. It now made better sense.

The four boys looked from Wu's sides as their teacher looked it over. It had been a month and they had yet to have a plan laid before them to carry out, they were growing quite impatient. At last the red eyed lord looked at his students, rolling the map up and turning around to the eager looks of his boys.

"Okay then my students, I have figured out the four locations and double checked it," he started. "My brother wants to play a game of hide and seek it seems from the way he has constantly been hiding his son, and now these weapons… from what my skeletal spies have seen, he has friends posted everywhere on the roads to the four places the weapons are hidden in…" he started. "I know you four look upset by this… but this can work very well for us…"

"Uh... yeaaa, how exactly can you make this work? If there are people watching all the roads to the places we gotta travel, we'll be spotted in no time," Cole had raised his hand to question, "the sensei knows what we look like pretty well, even if we don't wear out ninja robes… and I doubt they'll trust Jay after all this time…"

Wu gave a closed mouth chuckle at his silly question, "Well yes… but I have a better plan than what Garmadon was thinking I would do… So my plan shall go like this; Samukai and the army will be the ones to close in on each location… the sentries will be confused most likely of why I am sending a huge, and quite obvious army to do this and then you four will take them out when they aren't expecting it; then meet up with the army to fetch each weapon. Can you manage that small task for me?"

"Yes master!" the four bowed.

"Then off with you! To the Caves of Despair for the Scythe of Quakes first!" the dark lord impatiently snapped his fingers, "You know where that place is, so go immediately! No time for wasting!" The four boys were off with wide grins on their eager little faces.

"Hey… ya know; why his weapon first anyways!?"Kai grumbled, pointing to Cole. "I'm Wu's favorite! I should get my sword first!"

Jay nodded a bit in agreement, "Well though I hate to say it, Kai makes a good point… why get the scythe first? Are we gonna come in contact with evil wheat or something?" The other three blurted out laughter while Cole glared at all of them.

Cole suddenly started laughing at Kai, "Haha, evil wheat, hysterical… but Kai?" The red ninja raised an eyebrow, "Ever consider… maybe you're not his favorite anymore!? I mean really, it only makes sense to get my weapon, so far I'm one of the most loyal and not to mention the strongest!" he looked at Jay, "Unlike some people who needed persuasion…"

Kai looked incredibly offended and Jay looked away from the other boys who started their squabbling again, squeezing his eyes shut. _"They don't know what it's like for me… if they did… they wouldn't be laughing at what I went through… all that time…" _he angrily grumbled to himself.

* * *

_A week gone by since he was tossed into the cell as punishment and he felt he was going to go crazy soon, seeing nothing but darkness around him. Jay couldn't even see his own hand in front of him. He sat in a balled up position in the corner of the room, jumping scared when Wu opened the heavy, creaking door. There was a faint light from the corridor. _

_"__Alright Jay… let's talk… just you and me…" The lightning ninja sat up, staring up at the dark lord who had thrown him in there days ago. "Good, it looks like you're ready… now… what happened?"_

_Jay swallowed, still finding it hard to talk, "I… Cole shoved me off the roof of that building… that part is completely true…" he watched Wu nod, "I crashed through their window and those three girls he trains… they all tackled me to the ground and I couldn't do anything with them sitting on top of me… and ya know… I crashed through a huge window so I was still hurting from that…" he quickly trailed off. _

_Wu nodded once after the short explanation. "Okay… so what happened after that which made you decide to help them may I ask?"_

_The auburn haired boy smiled a bit, remembering, "He… your brother… he told them to stop trying to hurt me right away… it was like he knew I didn't wanna hurt the little baby… he told them to get off me and even cleaned up all my cuts and stuff… he was just really nice… they all kind of were… even Lloyd liked me right away… it was a nice feeling…"_

_He heard Wu let out of breath of annoyance at his sweet walk down memory lane, "Ah, so that's the problem I've been facing with you… you aren't just a momma's boy, you're downright soft in every way… just pretending you're like the others…" Jay winced at the cold words, "And now I have to harden that softness…"._

_Jay swallowed hard, eyes wide. "W-what do you mean by that?" he stammered. _

_The next thing he knew Wu dragged him to his feet, pointing a sword at him, "I mean…" he testily started, "you're not going to have those sweet little feelings you call love or happiness anymore… you're going to be a killer Jay, just like what your brothers willingly feel. And I do not care how long it will take me, I will break you"._

_"__I… No…! I'm… I'm going home, I don't wanna be here anymore!" he tried to shout but came out hoarse, barely a whisper. "You… you can't keep me here like this…"_

_Wu smirked just a little bit and shook his head, "You're dumber than I thought you were… no one leaves without my say so… I would hunt you down every day if you were runaway… but you can't, because I won't let you… I told you that, once you chose, you're stuck with it. I need a bearer of lightning and you are the only one I know of who I can mold to be in my image…"_

_"__What are you going to do to me?" Jay's heartbeat quickened._

_"__Some… "special" training you might say… I'll be honest though… it won't be pleasant in the slightest," he smirked wide, "But let's just say I picked up some amazing techniques with these new shadow powers…" he placed his hand on his student's head. _

_Jay's eyes welled up, wondering what was going to happen to him. He blacked out._

**Ooh look at that, I already started showing you what happened to Jay... yes the evil wheat line was taken from the Shadow of Ronin game. I regret nothing. Jay will have more flashbacks of pain and suffering so don't worry :3 it'll get even worse when Nya meets him again very soon.**

**Next chapter? We visit our old friends from First Masters! Except for Rose... cuz... she dead... sorry not sorry... moving on... uh... I know a certain someone will be tagging me or dropping me an ask on tumblr all like "Marissa NO" and then I post some evil laughing gifs or something. It's fun screwing with people like this, it truly is :3 **

**I'm dead inside since the Garmadon thing so prepare for pain in my stories hahahahaha... by the way. I've been working on Insurgents again. I hope to get it out in July when I wrap several stories up and get back to Falling Inside the Black. I feel so sad for my Garmy the way I wrote him... but it also works for him... that fic's gonna be fun... **

**ALSO... sorry one last thing, I was thinking since The Tournament is almost done... why not update on Thrusdays and on Sundays being I have like 5 chapters left and it would just go faster. Thoughts?**

**Besides all of that, thanks for reading this! **

**~Mar**


	17. Chapter 17

Garmadon stood; kendo staff in hand like the red head of three girls to be challenged. Drizzle lightly patted the roof as they trained together. Skylar shakily stood with the fake, training sword between her smaller hands. "Come on, left foot, step," they slowly went through. Her training sword clattering with his several times, "Not quite sweetie," he told her when she almost tripped forward.

"Ugh…" the girl with the amber powers groaned again, looking at her feet and switching them. She looked back up and he nodded with approval. Skylar smiled again and started her sword swings once more. Loud clacks sounding when he blocked and the pace grew faster until it was practically routine.

"There you go, you found your groove it seems," the sensei smiled.

"Better than what my dad could have taught me!" she determined looked as they continued the small fight, switching it up now. "He would have forced me to solely use my powers…" she panted, continuing, "Never teaching me this stuff…"

"Well…" Garmadon spoke as they moved back and forth, trying to keep up with his young student, "The way I see it…" he jumped back from her reaching swing, "What good would it be to rely completely on your elements? Why not be prepared for anything to be a weapon?" he smiled when she knocked his sword from his hands and he smiled, holding his hands up when she pointed the sword to his chest. "See? You even bested me".

Seliel and Nya both clapped with smiles. Skylar lowered the sword and bowed a bit, "In all fairness sensei… you weren't really giving it your all were you?" the eleven year old's eyebrow quirked up.

"Oh take a seat," he ruffled her cherry red hair and she obeyed wit. "Seliel, found any weapons you're interested in?" he now turned to the pink haired student. "I know you're already good with a sword because of your father and uncle… so I think it's time you start picking out more specialized weapons, any idea?"

The other tan skinned eleven year old frowned and looked at the weapons across the room a bit of a chuckle herself. She walked over and picked up a handled weapon with a spiked ball on a chain, looking back at Garmadon who seemed quite surprised by her choice, "Chigiriki… okay…" he nervously started. "It takes a while to learn". He warned her but Seliel didn't seem to care and gripped it tighter. "Okay, fair enough".

He gestured for her to grab a second one so he could demonstrate to her how to use one. "Misako used this more than I have… it's not a weapon I completely love, I managed to beat myself up when I was your age with one," he side glanced as they stood side by side, "almost no control you see…"

"You do seem to favor weapons that you can control best, that a thing with you?" she snarked a little with a smirk. "I always see you with a sword or staff…"

"Not true," he corrected her. "I have used kobutan, nunchucks, shurakins, kunai…" he lowered the weapon, pretending to seem hurt by her comment. "Now…" he spread his feet apart more and she followed, "You two should pay attention as well," he looked over his shoulder and they nodded. "Start by grabbing the chain and do this…" he made a figure eight in the air as he swung. "Nothing fancy yet".

Seliel tried and failed, getting the chain wrapped around her wrist. "Why do I have to do this?"

"You want to learn to use it? Then you must practice the simple things or else you'll conk yourself in the back or your head and it will not be very pleasant, I speak from experience Sel," he stopped and placed a gentle hand on her head. "Now, I want you to keep doing it. Once you have it, start learning to swing to your sides and back into the eight pattern; when at your sides, pull you feet in".

"Oh I'll show you! I'll master it in a week!"

"I'd honestly would like to see you try," his eyes followed him as he walked back to Nya and Skylar, "You two have done good, we'd go over Spinjitsu, but I'd prefer to not do that in the house… it creates a terrible mess," he smiled, "Go on and play with Lloyd until bed time if you wish… Seliel, don't over work yourself," he turned back to the oldest. She just nodded a little, focusing on what she was doing. "And don't stay up all night swinging that thing around while I'm asleep!"

"Ye…" she mindlessly responded, biting her lip as she focused.

"And don't get fancy with over the head swings and such… you could kill yourself!" he felt the need to remind her again.

"Ye…"

He chuckled and shook his head walking to his room, falling back on the bed tiredly. "Hey… tired?" Misako asked. She was on the bed as well, looking at some old fighting fans. "Remember when I used to use these too?" she shut the fan and frowned. "I was practicing with them again… it's so different compared to my scythe… you know?"

"Yes, you were good with almost any weapon really…" he complimented her, sitting up and looking across the room, into the mirror. "Do I look old now?" he frowned, holding up a small clump of fringe that was once completely dark brown. He could see noticeable streaks of gray invading it to his dismay.

"You're forty six… it's like you're twenty anymore…" she leaned over, kissing his cheek. "But you think some grays are going to make you unattractive to me?" she turned his head to look at her small smile. "The man who always made me laugh and gave me a beautiful baby boy?" she rubbed her nose against his but he pulled away.

He sighed, shaking his head, "It's not that… so much anyways," he laid back down, staring at the ceiling. "Back… two years ago… when I was in Spinjago and got this?" he pointed to the faint scar on his face from Clouse's battle claw. "I couldn't move like how I was able to during the war… I could… but it's not easily… I still can't… Skylar managed to use her basics to throw me off… I'm just…" he wiped his eyes tiredly.

"Ah, you think you'll be getting slow on me, is that it?" she joking, whispering it in his ear, "I have some grays and it doesn't bother me," Misako said with mocked concern in her voice, pinching his cheek. He shoved her shoulder and she laid back with him as well, both quietly laughing for a brief moment.

"So glad to see you're taking this seriously darling," he held her chin, turning to look at her again. "Tell me what you think of me? Am I just a cranky old man now?"

"Oh you're as dramatic as ever dear…" She laid on her stomach, tousling his shaggy hair more with a kind smile as they talked, "Why… I think you're the most handsome sensei I have ever seen love," she kissed his forehead, "gray hair, aching joints, crow's feet and all".

"What was that last one?" he sat up and looked back to the mirror around his eyes.

"Well someone's a bit vain… aren't they?" she raised an eyebrow he looked back, chuckling just a bit at her comment. "Garmadon sweetheart…" she sighed, "It's okay you know… I think you're handsome and that should be good enough for you," she rolled her eyes and hugged him from behind. "I know there's added stress with you brother… it's the same with me… but really… this should be the least of your concerns…" she kissed the corner of his jaw.

"Meh… it should be… the parts about being able to fight? Really, I think the stupid things we did during that war was not good in the long run… I'm not the only one you know… what about your shrapnel wound? Can you still run and fight without trouble?" he turned away from her.

"Oh I don't let something like that stop me," Misako crossed her ankles. "After I got it taken care of… I could still kick Wu around like what he deserves…" she pulled at their quilt, angry at the thought of him trying to take their child away from them, even though he was family as well, "Bet I can still outrun you," he lightly elbowed her and she chuckled, "But really Garmadon… the kids are doing great and it's obvious you're teaching them right…"

"You're too good to me aren't you…?" he looked back at his wife and left a beat of silence before he tackled her on their bed, both laughing and kissing, happily ignorant to the problems that their friends were having miles away from them.

* * *

The master of the mind didn't have to turn around to know that one of his old friends was coming from behind him. The white and black haired man smiled a bit and looked back, "So… have you seen anything yet Tanaka?" he asked, glancing back from his perch. Every night the two would take shifts.

"I do not know yet…" the black haired one frowned. "But I have a feeling that they are near…" both looked around cautiously.

Tanaka's phone buzzed and he picked it up. "Anthony?"

"There's… skeletons… marching towards the ruins… they'll be passing by you soon…" the brunette informed them of this odd thing. "Jacob isn't picking up so I'm going to go see what's… wait a minute… HEY-"

Both masters looked at one another when the line went dead, slowly drawing weapons and looking around. "I can't sense anything…" Tanaka whispered. "Anthony is only a few miles away… I should if there was any danger… what about you?" he asked Neuro.

The telekinetic master raised a finger to his temple, closing his eyes, "Something draws near… not Skulkin… I'm not sure what…" he stood up, back to back with Tanaka. "Be ready… I fear we may have some young guests… come to think of it… no one from the Caves of Despair responded in a while too…" they both exchanged worried looks.

In the darkness mere feet away, four pairs of shiny, glaring eyes peered through the foliage at their next prey who did not suspect them to be so close right now. They had knocked out the first two on the road to the ruins, now there was the matter of taking out two men who could sense where they were.

Kai and Cole exchanged looks and then looked to Zane who was behind them. Kai made a motion with his hand which was their own silent language now, _"The tall, black haired guy with the dueling shurakins is the man who adopted Zane… what if he turns out to have a soft spot like Jay does for his parent?"_

Cole bit his lip, _"I'll go first…send Jay with me and we'll handle Tanaka Fugiyoka… don't tell Zane it's his adopted father until then, okay!? It'll be easier anyways now that I have the scythe…"_

Kai nodded and gestured to Jay that he and Cole would move out first. The two masters flinched when they rustled the leaves in the trees. Zane peered over Kai's shoulder and his eyes widened. "You didn't tell me that one of the agents here was my father…" he whispered in the fire ninja's ear.

The brunette glared back, "And does this change your objective!?" he harshly asked.

"I…" Zane swallowed but the conversation ended when Cole and Jay attacked, causing the two men to fall from their positions in the trees. "Father," Zane reached a hand out before Kai clapped his hand over his mouth, not wanting it to be known he was here too.

"The black one has the scythe of quakes!" Neuro shouted a warning to his friend who seemed unaware of the object of power. "They have one already! We need to tell Garmadon about this right now!"

"Get him guys!" Kai laughed, leaning out, Zane as well. Though, Kai was the only one cheering them on.

"Zane?!" Tanaka blinked; looking up at the face of the young teen, hope in his heart that his adopted child would not follow the others. "Don't do this… I'm not very proud of you and I'm sure your biological parents wouldn't be very happy with you either, wherever they are…"

"Can it!" Jay snapped and zapped him into unconsciousness rather quickly. "All clear guys!" he looked up and the fire and ice ninja dropped back to the ground. "Hey what happened up there anyways? Why'd you wait?"

Kai looked back at Zane, "Nothing… we… had a bit of a talk is all… let's go… hopefully Samukai secured the way up so we can get your nunchucks before they wake up and start warning everyone else before we get the chance to travel up north and then back down to the Fire Temple…"

The white ninja stared down at Tanaka's unconscious form with nothing but guilt and before he was able to move Jay pulled him aside, "Don't get a soft spot… whatever you do". Zane's eyes widened, "You don't want the hell he will put you through to make sure you will fear him more than you love him…" the blue ninja pointed to Tanaka.

After another moment, he released his brother and followed after Kai and Cole. Zane couldn't help but feel curious as to what happened to Jay.

**I PROMISE soon there will be a better explanation about the references about fighting in the war I've said about several times already. Soon, not yet. A lot of the events that happened in First Masters, the war arc with the serpentine and stuff, it happened in this story, but was slightly different.**

**If you are unaware of a chigiriki, Gogo uses one in Kill Bill volume 1. It gets confused with a mace, I was confused by the difference for a very long while before I did my research. So next time you see a spiked ball on a chain... it is NOT a mace. It has almost no control and is seriously dangerous.**

**Surprise though, the Garmadon and Misako scene was amusing to write... being I wanted just a regular marital humor scene. Imagine looking after four crazy kids... A joke about being vain about looks was something I had to do at some point as well... **

**So thanks for reading, so happy you guys find this interesting XD**

**~Mar**


	18. Chapter 18

_"__Pathetic… you really are a whole new level of it Walker…" Wu stood over Jay who had laid on the floor, not wanting to get up again. "Get up, come on now," he ordered the auburn haired boy, slamming the end of his staff into the ground to get his attention. _

_"__No!" Jay yelped, still not making a move. "You're gonna just hit me again with that stupid staff!" He did make a very logical point. After the third time, he stopped trusting Wu altogether with his promises. _

_"__I'm going to hit you with this staff right now if you don't!" Wu raised his voice, frustrated with the young boy. _

_"__See?! I'm damned either way," Jay started crying more._

_"__Well not only do you need to learn your place and learn that you will be a killer from now on…" Wu slowly stepped around, slamming the butt of the staff into the ground with every step; making Jay flinch every single time. "This is also your punishment for even trying to get away from me… so I suggest… we make this a quick and easy lesson to learn… do I have to use my special means again?" He flexed his hand open, the black shadow magic dancing around his fingers. _

_"__NO!" Jay covered his face and head, shuddering more, remembering the terrible nightmares he had given him that deprived him of sleep for over a week. _

_"__Then get. Up," Wu slowly said. "Or you will have nightmares so bad you won't be able to sleep for a month this time… got it!?" he snapped and Jay nodded stiffly, standing up again, brushing his clothes off. "Now…" Wu let out a breath, "what are you?"_

_"__Pathetic?"_

_"__N-… well, yes… but besides that I mean…" his red eye glared down at the boy._

_Jay sighed, knowing this question had to do with what he was supposed to be to Wu as a student, "the master of lightning…"_

_"__That's right Jay… But what's another problem here besides you being a disobedient little brat!?" Wu continued to question him. _

_The blue eyed boy swallowed, "I'm… pathetically afraid of lightning…" he sighed. He never wanted to admit that to the others but Wu of course picked up on it after a while of training him. It wasn't really a pathetic phobia, he was just afraid of getting fried and killed by it which, anyone would really be afraid of. He just didn't want to handle lightning like what Wu was instructing him to do._

_"__That's right Jay… you are… and this is a very bad problem… you're still even afraid to use your Spinjitsu because of this… little fear…"_

_"__Then how are you going to get me to get over it?" He was more or less curious now because he really was wondering that._

_The master stopped, looking at his hand. "As the king of this pathetic place… you find you can do things you couldn't do before… like learn new elements other than the ones you were born with," he held his hand out, right in Jay's direction, "We're going to get over your little fear… the hard way obviously". Jay saw a small white blue spark around his fingers and his eyes widened as he came close to him._

"JAY!" Cole snapped and the blue ninja flinched, hugging the old, rusted chain that tethered the floating ruins to the earth. "What the hell!? Why did you stop climbing? We gotta get to the top if you want your damn nunchucks stupid!"

"I-I-I…" he stammered with wide eyes, looking up at the sky around them, "N-nothing… s-sorry… maybe you all should have gone first… I… I'll keep climbing though, I promise," he made it up one more link but even more lightning flashed and he stopped to hug the chain once more and the other three groaned, this seemed like it was going to take a while.

* * *

Lloyd turned on his side, disturbing his father who was holding him close in their bed. It seemed he was back to peaceful sleep, but Garmadon sighed as Lloyd moved again and opened one eye, looking down at Lloyd's little face, can't helping but to smile a bit even though he wasn't getting sleep. "Daddy?"

"What?" he quietly asked the little voice back, eyes just wanting to stay shut right now.

"I can't sleep…" Lloyd answered him back, head on the crook of Garmadon's elbow.

"Okay then, come on… what do you need then?" he looked back to see if Misako was going to wake up.

"I'm thirsty and I have to go potty," Lloyd poked his shoulder gently, gaining his attention once more.

Garmadon gave another tired sighed and quietly got up, picking Lloyd up with him, kissing the top of his head with a small smile. "Okay, go to the bathroom and I'll get you something… what do you want to drink then?" he asked when they were down the hallway and more free to talk a bit louder.

"Milk please," he wiped his small green eyes and was set down in front of the bathroom.

"Cold or warmed up?" his father wiped his own eyes, yawning again.

"Warm," Lloyd answered back, small feet padding on the tile in the bathroom as he attempted to reach for the light switch.

Garmadon walked into the kitchen and froze before folding his arms, tapping his foot. The three girls who were in the fridge turned quickly around; staring at their sensei and caretaker with wide brown and blue eyes that all looked down at the cookie jar they had in their greedy little ninja hands.

"Mind telling me what I said about late night snacks like this?" his expression was deadpan still but he enjoyed seeing their scared reactions.

Nya felt back on her bottom with the jug of milk, careful not to let it spill. "Uuuuuh… we're ninja and we need to get it without waking you up?"Garmadon's eyebrow raised and they all groaned, "Yea yea… to not to at all but… we started with the ice pops and you never noticed so… we uh…" their heads dropped after she trailed off and they raised their wrists to him like they were criminals surrendering.

The sensei chuckled and shook his head, easing up more, "Get up, come on, Lloyd wanted something too… might as well join us since you're up," he took the milk and got five glasses out and put them on the counter. "Shut the fridge too please, no need to waste electricity".

They heard the toilet flush and Lloyd quickly padded out and seemed to be surprised his sisters were up as well and smiled, trying to climb into a chair. "Here Lloyd," his dad put a cookie in front of him, ruffling his light blonde hair which quickly made him happy. "Come on girls," he yawned, plopping down. "Don't tell Misako though".

"This is why you're the fun one," Skylar snickered, dunking her cookie.

"Hey! I'm plenty fun too! If anything, I'm more fun than he is," the five froze and looked back to see Misako in her robe as well, starting to laugh a bit at their reactions. "Give me that," she pulled the jar away from her husband, kissing his nose and taking one for herself and then swiped his glass as well before he could get a chance to even drink from it.

"Do you think Wu does stuff like this too with Kai and the other boys he trains?" Nya asked, looking down at her glass, quietly wondering.

The two adults exchanged glances and looked back to the black haired girl, "No… I don't think they do stuff like this sweetie," Misako placed a hand on her head. "But don't worry, maybe they'll come around and live with us someday…" she trailed off.

During the moment of silence Garmadon was looking to the phone on the counter with a frown, the kids curious to his sudden look. After a few seconds it started ringing and they understood a bit, he had those moments like that from time to time.

"It says… Neuro Pathis," Seliel was the one to get up and looked back, ending up tossing the phone to them.

"What happened?" Misako answered, putting the phone on speaker so they can all hear.

"We just got jumped by Wu's students… Tanaka is still out though and I'm pretty sure the others are also out so it's just me…" Neuro quickly said. "Samukai was sent to distract us and then the boys jumped us… they're climbing up the chain right now… and… they already have the scythe… I guess they got some of the others without alerting us at the Caves of Despair…"

Everyone looked concerned, except for Lloyd who wasn't understanding yet what was going on just why this was a very bad thing. "It's okay you did your best and I don't blame you, they play dirty…" Garmadon answered. "Follow them up… I'll be right over there as soon as I can…"

"Roger that, I'll make sure they don't get to the nunchucks or take down the lightning dragon," Neuro hung up quickly.

"You're not going up there by yourself," Misako narrowed her green eyes.

"Yes I am," Garmadon started down the hallway to change. "You need to look after Lloyd and the girls because they'll be a lot safer with you-".

"Well why can't we come!?" Seliel angrily folded her arms at his orders. "We're your students! You should trust us more than you do!"

Garmadon in all honesty didn't want any of these kids getting hurt in a silly fight, they were like his own. "You aren't coming and that is my final word as your master…" he looked away. He had been hurt too many times as a student himself, same with the others he grew up with, he wouldn't be an irresponsible teacher like his father often was, sending children to possibly death... not him!

"Wu trusts his students it seems… he's the bad guy and he does that at least…" Skylar quietly mumbled but it was loud enough for him to hear it. "Why can't you trust us too like that?"

The sensei looked back at the three girls with their wide, pleading eyes. "Gah…" he rolled his head back, "Get your robes… if you can't get dressed in two minutes and grab your weapons, I'm leaving without you and you won't follow me," he subtly challenged.

Nya, Skylar, and Seliel all looked at each other with surprised and excited grins and they raced to their room, quickly pulling off their nightshirts and grabbing their ninja robes and weapons off their walls. In fact, they did get ready in less than sixty seconds, pulling their ninja hoods on, the girls stood at attention at the doorway.

Garmadon scowled just little bit at their readiness and gestured for them to follow. "We're going to stop those four before they can get anything else… are you sure you're ready now?"

"Yes sir!" Nya assertively told him. "Now come on!" the three giddily jumped and raced to the gates and down the stairs of the mountain so fast, Garmadon was having a bit of trouble keeping up with them.

"Hey! Slow down a bit! You're all like twelve! Give me some slack here!" he tried not to laugh at their enthusiasm but he just couldn't help it, they were all so cute and energetic.

* * *

Misako opted to clean up the mess back up at the monastery, Lloyd following her around, helping her as much as a four year old could. "I take it you don't wanna go back to bed right away now that all this excitement is happening huh?" she yawned herself and looked back to her son who nodded quickly. "Okay then, pick out a movie and I'll make some hot chocolate". She ran the sink to wash out the glasses.

"Kay!" Lloyd piped and started walking over to the book case next to the television set. He stopped though and looked to his left. In the light, he noticed something different about the wall. He looked around, certain that his mom was behind him and his dad had left being this shadow looked like a person who was watching him. The strange shadow moved and spooked Lloyd who took a step back.

"Oh come on… you don't remember me do you?" a voice chuckled and the shadow moved along the wall, closer towards him. "I figured you wouldn't remember that night I fell... you were only hours old after all…"

**So I guess you could say Wu tried some ****_shock _****therapy on Jay right? *looks around* *cricket cricket* ... I know... I'm trash... I'll take myself out to the dumpster now if you don't mind...**

**Did I make up with it with cute family cookie time and cliffhanger?! Hahahaha this is gonna be good... I felt Misako doesn't have enough action yet in this story! **

**Thank you kindly for reading! Over the next week, don't expect a lot of updates other than Tournament and Beauty and the Snake because Anime Con and VBS ;D thanks for understand you're awesome, kk bye and don't hurt me for what I'm doing to Jay (you know who you are)**

**~Mar**


	19. Chapter 19

"Okay Lloyd, I have the milk boiling and I'll get the mugs in a minute, what do you wanna watch?" Misako stepped down to the split level, just to check up on her son a with a tired smile on her face which turned to surprised, seeing her son whimper and run to her, peeking from behind her legs. "Lloyd?" she frowned. "What? Is it a spider or something…?"

"Why hello again… we were just having a little chat… waiting for you to come in…"

Misako herself started shaking a little when hearing the familiar voice, hand fidgeting to find the top of Lloyd's head so she could hold him close to keep him safe. "What are you doing here?" she swallowed, seeing the shadow on the wall and knew it could belong to no one else but the dark and sinister figure of Wu. "What do you want now from us?"

"Garmadon and the girls left… didn't they?" Wu knowingly asked her. "Which leaves poor, helpless Misako at home with the baby like the good little obedient wife she always was and seems to continue to be…" he taunted her.

The green eyed woman pressed her lips in an offended frown, angry at his words, "You're still bitter as ever… really… I am amazed… you think I'm weak because I want to look after my baby? I will take you on any day Wu and I will kill you if you step one foot into those gates…" she held Lloyd's hand. He seemed shocked that his mother wasn't scared like he was of the shadow, if anything, she was angry with it now. "I'll ask again Wu, what do you want? You can't hurt my son in that form you have. And besides that, you would have to get through me".

"I just came by to see him and nothing more…" Wu answered nonchalantly, "I want him to know my presence, to fear it in his very being… and know that I am coming for him very _very_ soon if all goes according to plan tonight with my students… hopefully they even get to kill those stupid girls and my once brother… then they will come for you and Lloyd and then move on to your friends… and that will be the end of anybody stopping me…"

"Momma… make it go away… it's saying scary things…" Lloyd whispered to her, burying his face in Misako's long nightgown. "I don't like the shadow… why is it being so mean to us? …Make it go away…" he repeated more and more to her.

Wu chuckled at the toddler's reaction to him, "Adorable… so adorable it makes me sick," he hissed at the blonde boy who retracted even more so. "If you weren't so stupid he would have been my child, then maybe he wouldn't be such an obnoxious little brat".

"I'm not stupid for loving a man who wanted to be with me, to be my partner for the rest of my life… and how dare you insult me and my family," she scrunched her nose. "You heard my son, get out!" she snapped, angry now. "You will always use me making my own decisions as an excuse for your pain and misery that I tried to help with and you shut me out Wu… you shut literally everybody who ever wanted to help you out," she pointed to him, "Now listen to me, and listen to me close you demon, I want you out of my home and away from my child".

Wu gave a closed mouth chuckle, "Alrighty then… but know this… when I have my physical form up here again… you ordering me to get out will do you all no good". It disappeared.

Once he was gone Misako fell to her knees, hugging Lloyd tightly to her chest, "Shhh…" she hushed him, hearing him breakdown and cry to her at last.

"You were so brave for not crying in front of him baby… shh… everything's okay; he will never be able to hurt you… even touch you… I promise little one… if you ever see him, just find me or daddy and you won't have to listen to him…" she kissed his head, picking him up. "Come on…" she managed to take his hand, "Come on, we'll watch a movie and forget all about it…" she sat down with him in her lap.

"He said he was gonna kill daddy…" he whispered to her. "And Sel and Sky and Nya…" he continued to breakdown. "And you too…" his nose was running when his mother grabbed several tissues to wipe his nose for him, trying not to cry herself.

Misako pressed a kiss between his eyes again, "Hey hey…" she tried to smile, "What happened to "daddy's the toughest ninja ever"? He would do anything to keep alive just to be with you you know… and it'll take a lot more than your uncle to take me down… and your sisters would never _ever_ leave you… none of us will leave you Lloyd, we will protect you and help you forever".

"Sure?"

"Positive," she cuddled him closer. "Come on, what do you have there for us to watch? Hmm?" she took the DVD from his small hands, trying to help him forget.

Garmadon looked from behind the tree, three more heads poking out from the side under his chin as well. He glanced down and sighed before chuckling a bit. They meant well and he couldn't really ask more for students so caring and loyal towards him.

"So we have to climb up that big chain thing, right?" Nya pointed to the rusting chain, clinking in the wind. "All the way up there before the boys can reach the top and get the nunchucks first on that altar thing you left them on?"

Garmadon nodded, "Yes… exactly like that… first, we're going to find Neuro and Tanaka, okay? They were around here when they were attacked and I'd like to make sure they're okay first," he dug one of the sais he had on his belt into the tree to help him climb better. The three girls followed suit right after him, until they reached a branch to perch themselves on.

"Hey! Over here!" the sensei snapped at attention, looking around for the owner of the voice.

"Come on," Garmadon looked up to the girls who decided to climb higher into their tree. The four found their way to another tree yards away which occupied the two men they were seeking. "Alright… what's up?"

"They're right there at the top of the chain… the blue one seemed to be having issues, he kept stopping," Tanaka's arm was in a makeshift sling now. "I cannot climb, we thought it best to wait for you to come…" he looked behind at the kids, "Seliel?" his mouth dropped open a bit.

"Uncle Tanaka!" she sprang forward and hugged him tightly. "I missed you," she looked up and kissed his cheek. He smiled and kissed her forehead next. "Are you hurt?" she looked at his arm with a frown.

The gray eyed man smiled, "I shall be fine, don't worry… the red and black one did it to me…"

Nya was paying more attention to the top of the ruins. _"The blue one… he must have meant Jay… and Kai tried to hurt Seliel's uncle… he was never like this when we were little…"_ she bit her lip and tugged on her teacher's sleeve, "Can… can we go up now? Please?"

"Why the sudden rush Nya?" Garmadon raised an eyebrow. "I know it's important we get up there… but…" he trailed off and nodded. Her brother was up there and not to mention the boy who was once their friend for a short time. "Okay okay, Tanaka, you should stay here, Neuro, why don't you come along with us?" he looked to the master of the mind.

"Sounds like a plan," the white and black haired one agreed and stood up, leading the way.

Jay was still shaking when Cole and Kai pulled Zane up the rest of the way. Lightning flashed all around them on the high, floating plateau that once belonged to an ancient civilization, thunder rumbling so bad the ground they were on shook. "Geez… look at this place…" Kai stared around at the crumbling buildings and such.

"Let's just get these things and leave…" Jay swallowed, slowly moving forward with his teammates, looking up at an old looking alter that was weathering away.

"Yea, the lightning master's afraid of lightning," Cole looked back at the other two who seemed to chuckle as well with the earth master.

The auburn haired boy glared back, biting his lip, "Yea well… for the almighty earth ninja, you pretty much pissed your pants when you saw the dragon that was guarding that scythe you carry around on your back! We did all the work dragging your sorry butt out of the caves!" he pointed accusingly. Kai and Zane also laughed at this.

"Say that again nerd!" Cole stomped forward, glaring down as Jay shrank. He was rather taller and far more built than the poor freckled boy in blue and black. "You tried to sell us out and you got whatever you deserved when Wu tortured you!"

Jay swallowed, words for a witty retort catching in his throat. He squeezed his eyes shut and looked away. "Good, it seems like master Wu did a good job on making you fear us and what we can do to people who turn their backs on us!"

Zane kept his mouth shut now, seeing Jay started to run ahead of them all. "Do you not think that was a bit… harsh?" the ice ninja dared to ask the other two. The two frowned, raising their eyebrows, "We… we really don't know what was done to him you know…" he tried to reason with the others.

Kai and Cole looked at one another and back at Zane, seeming to be confused, "Come on, he's such a wimp, he'll come running back in no time… I bet Wu didn't even do anything that scary to him… Jay just don't have a back bone is all, a few smacks from the staff and he probably started crying!"

"Okay, because he's climbing the altar and if this goes anything like last time… a dragon will appeared and try to kill us again… and this one I hear can breathe lightning and we can all die rather painful deaths unless Jay somehow learned to talk to dragons… and perhaps he could make the dragon eat you both instead of not attacking us…" he started walking again, "Just thought I would let you both know that…"

Cole paled just a little bit at the thought of Jay communicating and reasoning with the lightning dragon to sic it on them. "You… you don't really think that zap trap could talk to a dragon? I mean… even if they share the element… right!?" he grabbed the folds of Kai's robes.

"I don't know! Chill it out dirt clod before I tell Wu you're terrified of dragons! He doesn't know that yet!" Kai shoved him back.

"Fine! I'll tell him you're afraid of drowning and water and stuff!" Cole snapped back as the fire ninja walked away, both were now squabbling back and forth like little kids. Zane just rolled his head back, letting out a tired sigh.

Jay clenched his teeth, more so angry and determined now, rather than hurt by what Cole said to him minutes ago. He was almost half way there, not even looking back at the small figures of the boys who were supposed to be his brothers.

"I'll show them who's a loser!" he growled as he talked to himself. "They think I'm weak… I'll show them I can get this thing on my own!" he stopped for a brief moment as the lightning flashed. "It's… it's not Wu… he isn't torturing me… it's just normal lightning is all…" he rested his head against the cold and damp bricks, gripping one shoulder.

Every time he heard a crackle, he would imagine the pain running through him again, always clutching a limb or curling up in a ball, when he was alone anyways. While people were watching, he would just tense up and play it off like he was just fine.

He sat down on of the huge steps, peeling the clothing back from his shoulder, just a little bit to reveal purplelish blue scaring from the lightning magic Wu could use. He never showed the others what happened to him in that cell. He didn't want their pity or to be made fun of by them. Jay looked up and sighed, he was almost to the top. The young ninja assassin stood up again, pulling his clothing back in places and started climbing once more.

He was going to make it to the top and show the other three that he wasn't there for them to kick around like a piece of trash.

**Kay so... don't look up lightning scars okay? A lot of them are not pretty... (why do I continue to torture Jay!? Why do I enjoy it so!?)**

**Also, showdown between Misako and Wu, soon I promise!**

**No updates at all for any story because ya know, I'll be dressing up like weeaboo trash and stuff in LA for four days like I said in other updates today hahaha **

**Thank you so much for reading! **

**~Mar**


	20. Chapter 20

Garmadon and Neuro both helped the three girls pull themselves up onto solid ground again. The young students all looked around in awe at the crumbling buildings that was eerily lit by flashes of blue-white lighting with streaks of pink it left behind against the storm clouds. Though it looked stark and haunted, it was still rather beautiful too.

"Wow…" they all whispered together.

The two older masters smiled a bit at their reactions and started walking, the three at their sides; ready for any battle that would come their way should the boys be preparing an ambush for them along the way.

"What was this place before it was all run down anyways?" Seliel looked up at one of the taller buildings. "It was a city at one point… right?"

"Yes… an ancient city that belonged to the first masters of lightning… every element had its own city… I'll tell you about that later though…" Garmadon looked around as well, "but I've never spent much time here… Misako knows it best I think…" he frowned. "Most of these masters… well… the core of the city was the first electric power by natural means… the constant lightning storms over head… the main power station for Ninjago should be around here too… but one day, a few hundred years ago… it took in too much of the lightning energy… and it wiped out pretty much the whole city, only leaving very few lightning masters alive to spread their powerful blood… there are not many of them left either unfortunately…"

_"__Like my kind…" _Skylar looked at her hands but quickly looked ahead again.

"And the reaction caused the ground underneath to be magnetized so it floats? And the chain is probably there to keep things level and to provide a bridge…?" Nya looked at the ground they walked on after seeing Garmadon nod to confirm her thought. "Man this place is important to Jay's family history I bet… too bad he can't see it anymore like when we met him…"

"Hey," Garmadon pointed to her, "I said we would help him get back, didn't I? Well… we will… I promise," the older man side hugged the young water ninja. "I know you care about him very much Nya though you only met him once…" he smiled when she seemed flustered by his comment. "You care for the innocent but take it as you wish".

Neuro nodded in agreement with that, "They also say that when the wind blows through the old ruins of the city… you can hear the screams of the dead souls of the masters who died in the energy explosion that nearly leveled the entire place…"

The three looked at one another with worried looks on their faces, "Gee… that makes me feel better… thank you master Neuro for that lovely information… it totally makes things less creepy for me…" Skylar sarcastically said under her breath.

"I heard that young lady," he looked down at her, but was smiling all the same. She straightened up, stopping for a moment and running to catch up again. "Hey… the altar…" he stopped everyone. "Someone's at the top…" he exchanged looked with Garmadon and the two men ran to catch whoever it was. "But… there should be four of them I thought… I swear; Tanaka and I saw all four climb the chain…"

"JAY!" Nya suddenly shouted to the others who were running right behind, "It has to be him! Maybe we can stop him from doing this!"

"Who knows what goes on his mind now Nya… we have no idea how my brother decided to punish him… he may not even be in control of his own mind…" Garmadon closed his eyes, just thinking about seeing the boys when they broke into Kasai and Namiko's home. "I… I really don't think he's Jay anymore…"

"He has to be the same Jay!" She gritted her teeth and started moving faster than even the masters who were surprised that the three kids were passing them, determined to face the boys and stop them from serving Wu anymore.

Garmadon shook his head, stepping it up a bit with Neuro, "They're so innocent it's a downfall…" he watched them zip along the cracked stone path to the altar mount, "I keep trying to teach them that people make choices… and sometimes they must… well… live with them…" he trailed off.

"Wu turning evil is not your fault… nothing that has happened over the years is your burden to bear!" Neuro said out of nowhere. The brunette then remembered that he was the master of the mind. "Do not be so hard on yourself… he chose seclusion rather than friends… you have done your best with everything… one man cannot accept such a destiny."

"Well it doesn't help… but thanks anyways…" the sensei puffed.

* * *

The three girls climbed to the top first, standing side by side in a ready to attack positions, pulling out ninja swords and sais. Nya released her stance first and took two steps forward, "Jay…" she whispered, hoping to gain his attention. She didn't really like him at first, but when he crashed through their window and saw Lloyd joyfully hug him, she thought of him a bit different. He chose to go with Wu on a feeling he experienced at one moment, not because he wanted to live this life for years to come.

The blue eyed boy looked back, over his shoulder, auburn hair whipping around on his head and in his face. The freckled boy looked just as surprised at the girls did, it really was him there. His hands were gripped on the golden handles of the nunchucks and what looked to be like all the power in world flowing through his veins, making him look white in the pale blue lighting of the storm.

"JAY! STOP! You're a good guy! You're not one of them! You wanted to help us! Not help Wu!" Seliel shouted over the wind. He seemed to be attempting to blow them right of the altar peak, in some kind of trance. "Whatever Wu did to you is… you're not a villain! Join us! We can help you get over whatever happened over the years! We promise!"

He looked back at them again as if reconsidering; then turned back at the golden weapon he was sent to acquire next. The lightning ninja lowered his head, gripping the handles tighter and pulled them from the field that suspended them in the air with all his strength. "I'm the assassin of lightning… these are my birthright as one of the last descendants of the lightning masters… and I'll become the greatest of the others… greater than Zane… or Cole… most of all… Kai," his dull eyes flashed with determination and anger.

"Look at his eyes…" Skylar stared blankly in shock. "They're… they look so cold… they look my father's eyes… He means it… Nya we need to get sensei… we can't do this on our own… we're not as powerful as the guys are…" she took a step back, trying to pull on Nya's arm along with Seliel but she wouldn't budge, not seeming the least bit terrified of what he could do to them now that he had the weapon.

More lightning seemed to be stirring up and the wind howled, Jay seeming to be the one to control it all now, directing to the altar, more specifically, at the girls he now saw as his enemies, creating almost a cyclone around them all. Nya dropped to her knees first, covering her ears from the horrible screeching of the wind, "SENSEI! MASTER NEURO!" she cried over it all.

The two finally made up to meet them, seeing why she was freaking out and screaming so badly, "JAY! LET GO OR WE'LL ALL BE BLOWN OFF THE RUINS!" Garmadon crouched down and felt Nya fall into his embrace; he stroked her short, black hair.

"Wait," Neuro looked around, "It's just him up here! I expected to see the others hanging about! Where are the other three?!" he tried find the minds of the other boys but for reason, he couldn't find them anywhere. "I can't get a read on any of them… the electrical field is making a disturbance in my powers now… Jay really knows how to control those things!"

"I control the lightning… it's my destiny…" Jay held them up, showing them off to his now enemies. "I'm stronger than an earthquake… or a blizzard, or a raging fire! I can destroy whatever I want!"

"You sound like a little mind controlled robot! You sound _exactly_ like Wu! And he fell Jay… he was struck by the lightning and he fell… you will end the same way and I don't want to see that happen!" Garmadon snapped back, holding onto his girls as tightly as he could. "Yes you are the master of lightning… but this place is your history Jay! You're gonna destroy it if you don't let go or control it! If you were a true master… you would use your gifts to further peace!"

"I… I already have been struck!" he suddenly shouted back, eyes suddenly seeming different.

The blue ninja looked to be gaining some sense, his eyes lit up, bright blue and the wind seemed to stop. "Jay?" they all slowly asked, seeing he now dropped the weapon, staring wide eyed at them, "Jay!?"

"I…" he swallowed, about to lift a hand when Garmadon spied a strange moving shadow shift over to the one Jay cast on the ground. The twelve year old opened his mouth just before he collapsed, like someone hit him over the head.

"JAY!" Nya sprang forward but was quickly caught by her teacher who adjusted so she was in the crook of his arm, immobile now.

"NOW!" the five jumped when they heard three more voices. "Score! Another weapon… hey what happened to him…" Kai blinked, seeing their teammate practically passed out, clearly unaware of what was just going on. "Great! Cole, pick him up-! OUCH!" he was cut off by a kunai grazing his hand and looked at the girls.

"He's coming with us no matter! We're going to help him! Not make him worse like you guys!" Nya clenched her teeth. She was smaller than the others, but she was raring to jump in and beat them all senseless.

"Worse?! We'll make him better!" Kai pointed.

"BETTER?! You're just hurting him more and more till he won't even have a soul left!" Nya roared angrily, not moving though Garmadon set her down. "You all just bully him so he'll be like you! You make fun of him because he's probably scared to kill people… to be mean! And that's a horrible reason!"

Everything was interrupted by the loud roaring screech of a dragon. Cole straightened up, scared stiff by the look of things, hiding behind Zane now, "What the _hell_ was that!?" the thirteen year old looked around quickly at the cloudy sky.

Garmadon smirked, folding his arms, "Afraid of dragons… how cute…" he chuckled a bit. "She won't be very happy when she sees what you're trying to do here… she won't hurt us because she knows us quite well. One of my mother's dragons… and I seemed to inherit her gift with them…" the older man stuck his fingers in his mouth, letting out a sharp whistle.

Another blood curdling roar sounded and flap of giant, leathery wings and the lightning flashed again. After the flash a giant blue dragon with cyan trimmed scales was perched on the edge of the altar rather daintily and at the same time, menacingly. The three able bodied boys who were not currently out of it clung to one another, screaming as the blue dragon roared again in their direction.

"HI WISP!" The three girls waved to further taunt the boys she was acting hostile to. "DON'T EAT THEM! BUT YOU CAN CATCH THEM PLEASE!"

She seemed to understand but when she saw Jay, her head tilted and she leaned forward, sniffing him; then licking his face twice, as if knowing he was not really a bad guy. Jay weakly opened his eyes, quietly laughing at the ticklish feel of the tongue. The other three were frozen where they were, wondering why it was so hostile to him when he was one of them.

Garmadon let out a sigh, faintly smiling, "Yes Wisp… he's a descendant of the people from here… a controller of lightning…" he held a hand to her nose, letting go of his students. "He has chosen the path of evil though… to serve his dark master… my brother… unfortunately…" he looked back at Jay who looked to be falling asleep again, still feeling horrible.

"We need to get out of here… someone grab the nunchucks and let's book it!" Kai whispered. "Before that dragon comes after us when he's done checking Jay out…"

"What about Jay though!? Wu said he needs him to control the nunchucks properly! You heard the sensei, Jay's a lightning master descendant… this is his birthright and he has a place with the four prime elements…" Zane looked down at the poor boy they called brother, feeling sympathy for him and remember what he told him earlier about disobeying would be a grave mistake. He was weak from so much lightning and energy flowing through him but, yet, from the way he fell, he wondered if someone else knocked him out. "Cole, you're the only one who could carry him…" he finally said.

"Yea but I don't like dragons and that one is keeping her eyes on him…" the black haired one pointed to Wisp.

The three girls looked back with narrow eyes at the three, knowing they were scheming something. "You're last chance Kai…" the ten year old ninja in training turned to her brother, extending her hand, "I'm the master of water… you don't want me to be your enemy…"

He scowled at her, "Every time we see each other it's my "last chance"… and I won't change my mind ever! I'll get that sword of fire… and I will be stronger than you no matter how much water you'll throw at me… we all will be stronger!" he looked to Cole, "Drop it…"

Cole and Zane seemed alarm by the vague order, "But we are floating in the air! The whole chunk of land could just split and-"

"Shut UP ZANE!" Kai snapped viscously, "We're going with my plans! Wu knows I'm smarter than you idiots!"

Cole sighed, whipping out the golden scythe they had with them and dug the blade into the altar platform where they were, a giant crack starting to split through, turning attention away from the Jay and the dragon.

Everyone rocked back and forth and Neuro realized what happened, "What have you done!? We'll all plummet to our deaths because of you silly boys!"

"DIE?!" Skylar yipped, hugging Neuro's leg, terrified now. "You're just full of cheery things master!" she angrily told him.

"No one's gonna die! Let's just grab Jay and the nunchucks and get out of here before this floating island splits up entirely!" Garmadon shouted, trying to keep the kids calm. The ground started to split more, leaving Jay and the good guys on one side, the other three assassin boys on the other… and Nya tripped backwards.

"NYA!" Kai suddenly jumped forward at the same time as Garmadon did.

**Jay you poor baby... oh no... look at Nya... she might die...**

**And yes, I have seen all of season 5, I know there will be 6th season and we won't know anything until Sunday after the SDCC panel. Personally? I don't give two shits about what is canon anymore. In fact, I seem to just be twisting every season to work with my own characters and stuff lol (Infiltrate Borg Tower, The Tournament... I may add some ghosty elements later on but I'll write it so it's actually GOOD) No I was not pleased with the premise of the series lately...**

**Okay besides that, thanks for reading! I appreciate it.**

**~Mar**


	21. Chapter 21

The ten year old had her eyes squeezed shut until she realized; she wasn't falling anymore and there was tension on her arms. She opened one eye first and then the other, seeing that she was being suspended between the two sides, the ground a thousand feet below her.

Garmadon, she had expected would be the first to grab her naturally, but then she looked to the other side to see who was holding her other arm, seeing Kai's pale face, staring at her, almost in horror that she was dangling this high over the ground.

Garmadon glared at Kai and pulled on Nya's arm until the red ninja released her so that he could get her back on solid ground. "I have you…" he quietly said to his water ninja, holding her tightly. She was shaking just a little bit. "I have you Nya… I wouldn't let you fall…" he felt her hug him tighter, glancing up at Kai who seemed shaken up by what just happened, "And apparently a student of evil… your enemy wouldn't let you either…"

Kai swallowed, his throat was dry, not knowing what to say to his sister. He spent the past several years trying to building a wall to show Wu he didn't care what happened to the other kids. The brunette just shook his head, hoping the other boys wouldn't tell Wu what happened. "Let's get out of here! We can come back for that pathetic loser…" weakly said, grabbing the nunchucks; not even looking back.

"HEY! Aren't we going after them!?" Seliel growled in frustration. "SENSEI! They have the nunchucks! You're… you're just gonna let them get away like this!? We're ninja! Come on!" she pointed to the three getting away.

He nodded solemnly, "And we have Nya… and now Jay too…" he looked to the sleeping boy. "Come…" he got up, carrying Nya and then picked Jay up, clicking his tongue a couple of times, "Wisp… Wisp girl… we need a lift down," he told the blue beast.

Wisp lowered her head and set the two he was carrying up on her back first, Neuro helping get the other two up there. "Hang on everyone," he cautiously said when the dragon spread her huge wings, "The ride may get a bit bumpy… she's not the most graceful flyer…"

"What now though?" Skylar asked, hugging Neuro's waist for dear life as the wind whipped her red ponytail around.

"We go home… what else is there to do?"

* * *

The sun started to rise by the time the dragon touched down into the courtyard of the monastery. Not long after they started getting off her did they see Misako walking out the sliding doors, starting down the steps, holding a sleeping Lloyd in her arms.

The first thing she did was march right up to her husband and grabbed the fold of his ninja robe with a free hand, forcing him down so she could kiss him. "Out all night eh?" she tried to sound stern but they then kissed each other a second time. "Hey… isn't…" she looked to small figure on the dragon's back.

"Yea, come on, let's get him inside… he's not in the best condition… he spent a lot of energy…" the sensei scooped the boy up, carrying him inside with the girls and Neuro right behind him.

The blue eyed boy stirred just a little bit after he was placed down on Nya's bed, which she volunteered they put him. Lloyd was also waking up, wondering why everyone was watching this newcomer. "Hey… Jay?" Garmadon quietly asked, seeing he was waking up.

The auburn haired one opened his eyes a bit more, registering who the people were that were staring at in anticipation, "AAH!" he tried to sit up quickly and roll out of the bed but no one was having any of that from him. Garmadon flew forward and gripped the smaller one's shoulders.

"Jay! It's okay! I promise it's okay…" Misako reached a hand out to gently touch the boy's face while her husband tried to keep him down. He was surprisingly putting up a great fight though.

"I'll try to calm him down…" Neuro looked into the twelve year old's mind, "Wu did something bad to him for sure… he thinks he's being attacked obviously…" slowly Jay started to settle down but was still continuing to shake and stare at the other masters. "His mind's all jumbled though… I'm not sure what Wu did… but whatever he did… he's trying very hard to forget it…"

"Jay… I know whatever happened last night was… stressful… but we promise… you are safe right now," Garmadon let go of him at last. "Please just let us help you… that is all we want… you took in so much energy from the lightning storm… you need to relax".

"I… where am I!?" he panted more, his heart was continuing to race as he wasn't registering anything anymore.

"My monastery," Garmadon continued to calmly answer all of the boy's questions while the three girls looked at him curiously. The older man frowned, seeing some bluish mark crawl out from under his under garments. "… were you injured during that storm? I don't remember seeing a bolt hit you or…" he carefully peeled back the robe.

When he saw it didn't stop he eventually took off his entire top robes, staring wide eyed at the huge scaring that wrapped around his back and abdomen. "Oh my gods…" Neuro stared almost in horror at the boy. "What… no way this happened in one night… this is from several years…"

"It looks like lightning…" Seliel commented. "Was he just born with it because he's a descendant or something?"

"No… this is lightning scarring and you are not born with it…" Misako set Lloyd on the foot of the bed and looked at more closely, "So this is how Wu likes to scare children…" her green eyes started to well up at the thought of this poor boy screaming in agony for almost two years of this kind of torture, "He must have used his lightning abilities right back on Jay…" she couldn't help herself and hugged him close.

She felt Jay nod at her accusation. "Yea… he…" he started crying now too. "He's gonna find me and drag me back and torture me more after he finds out I was too weak to control those nunchucks and face you guys…"

"You're not ever going back!" Misako harshly told him. "Whether against your will or your own wanting! We can't possibly let you!"

"I must obey him," he pulled away from her, trying to push everyone back, feeling like a cornered animal all of a sudden, "I have to… I'm his student… I'm his lightning assassin… I…" he looked down all of a sudden, everyone shocked to see Lloyd had crawled over, hugging the blue ninja. "I have to kill him…" he started crying again. "I'm… I'm an assassin… Wu said I was… I have to kill people…"

"What my brother says in not law… but he likes to make people think it is…" Garmadon stared him down, "You are in control of your own destiny Jay… so what will you be? A hero? Or a villain?"

Jay wiped his eyes, shaking his head, "I… neither!" he gritted his teeth and looked at the other girls, "I'm nothing like those other boys… and I'm nothing like you! I don't want to choose a side! I… I…" he started to hiccup, "I want my mommy and my daddy…" he curled back up on the bed, crying. Lloyd continued to huh his legs at least

"You are in this story now… whether you want to be or not…" Neuro pointed. "The only choice you can make is the side you want to be on now… you cannot get out of this decision…" the master of the mind saw that they weren't really getting anywhere with him now. "If you desire to see your family… we'll tell them you're here…" he offered.

"No!" Jay suddenly shouted, "They… they won't be happy… their probably angry at me for daring to do this… they won't want me anymore…" he sniffled. "I betrayed them…" he cried more now.

"Jay… we speak with them… they asked us to bring you home… they know this is not you… they just want their little boy back…" Misako told him with a pained voice. "I'm sure they'll be proud of you for trying to get out… and putting up with torture… they know you let me and Lloyd go that night when he was a baby…" she smoothed his red brown hair over.

He still wasn't talking to her though so Misako picked Lloyd back up and gestured to the girls to follower her out of the room. "Let him be… from what you told me… he has had a stressful night… he… hopefully he will come around and think more clearly after rest…"

"He's gonna join our side though… right Misako?" Skylar looked back to see Garmadon shutting the door. "Right…? We won't let him go back? He has to stay with us…"

"It's not our job to decide… and it never will be," their other teacher closed her eyes. "Unfortunately… he has to be the one to make his own choices… and choose his own path… no matter what, he needs to know he will have to live with it… and I don't want to see him scarred anymore… trust me… come on, let's call his parents…"

* * *

Wu looked interested as to why he saw not just two weapons, but only three boys. The dark lord had been waiting several days now and half expected them to all return with all of their weapons. It looks like the disappointments he called students held up to that title.

"Tell me… where is Jay?! I see his nunchucks but he's nowhere to be found!" he raised his voice, seeing the three slouch their heads and wince a bit at his tone.

"When he passed out… we could only get the nunchucks… we didn't have the time to carry him out as well…" Zane bit his lip, "We are sorry master…"

"Well then instead of returning to me, you should have gotten him back and then headed north for the shurakins!" he roared even louder. "GO BACK OUT AND GET YOU'RE BROTHER BACK!" the other three were shaking even more now, "He'll probably be in the hands of my idiot brother…!" he stopped himself.

"Sir?" Kai swallowed.

Wu smirked a bit and looked back to the others, "Go on to the monastery… I know Jay will consider joining my brother under the belief he is safe… but he's already there… and my innocent little dumb nephew will see him as a friend… oh this could play out nicely for me… I'll be back… but prepare to start out to the monastery!" he disappeared into the shadows rather quickly.

* * *

Misako was watching Neuro teach and play around with Lloyd, Nya, Seliel, and Skylar, happy to relieve some stress from the parents for at least a little while longer. She couldn't stop thinking of Jay being a killer like what he said Wu was instilling in him. Then the way Lloyd hugged him before…

"I think it'll be nice to have Neuro hanging around for a little bit… Tanaka will be joining us later today from what he said over the phone… that make you feel any safer?" Garmadon was now at her side, bringing her out of her thoughts and worries.

"A bit…" she rested her head against his arm. "What if Jay is right though…? What if he will choose the bad path because of what Wu did to him… honey you saw what happened to him… he's just a kid! He's twelve! None of these kids should be here right now!" she gestured angrily to their own kids. "We're no better than Wu in that sense… putting responsibilities like this on kids… I feel like we're making them do our dirty work almost…"

"I know… I understand that… they're all so sweet… but I can't change what happened in the pas… I'm going to protect Jay now… that's what needs to be done… Neuro… was right; I can't change what I could have done… I don't like this anymore than you do… but this is only chance we have… I can't fight kids like Kai and Cole and Zane… they're all too fast and strong and too…" he was the one getting worked up now. "What if I can't protect Lloyd? What if we get separated?"

"I hate all these what ifs…" Misako mumbled.

He placed his hands on her hips. "When things start to settle and we secure at least the shurakins and the sword… I'll take you out one night… sound nice?" he tilted her chin up.

She smiled a bit more, "That… does…" she closed her eyes. "We can go dancing…"

"Maybe this time my two left feet will work with you," the bopped their foreheads together, touching noses in a sweet manner. They both laughed.

However, it was quickly over when their face pulled apart, "He's here… he must be after Jay…" Garmadon let go of her altogether and started walking around the house, looking for a shadow that was out of place, "Come on," he looked back to his wife, "Don't tell the kids… they'll get freaked out or something and I don't need Jay throwing a fit and zapping everyone!"

**Aw, look, I didn't make Nya fall and Jay's safe... FOR NOW HAHAHHAHAHAHA**

**Ah how I love me some good children in peril, it really jacks the readers up and gets you all angry with me at my torture methods ^^ And now Wu is coming hahahaha! tbh I was gonna make this one longer... then I figured... nah, that's no fun, the cliffhanger wouldn't have been as big!**

**Thanks for reading ;) See ya guys later!**

**~Mar**


	22. Chapter 22

Jay winced a bit, opening one eye and seeing a looming shadow with no physical body there to cast it. He flinched, shifting away just a little bit too far over. "What do you want from me now!?" he squealed, falling to the floor, groaning a bit in pain from hitting his head. "What could you possibly want this time!?"

"You're coming back right this instant is what I want from you! You're going to the frozen ice palace to get the shurakins with you brothers!" Wu ordered him angrily. "You're not going to weasel out of our deal so easily you know! Once you pledge to me it's forever you runt!"

Jay coughed a bit, shaking his head slowly, "I'm too tired… I can't just leave… they're gonna tackle me and lock me up or something…" he lowered his head more.

"You will! Better yet, I just decided that you're going to kill my nephew right here and now!" the master lowered his voice, looking around to make sure his brother wouldn't be coming through the door anytime soon. "Go! You're going to do as I say or else I'll do far worse to you that some weak lightning!" he growled at the fact Jay was not being cooperative in the slightest. "But if you do as I say for once... then you'll finally get treated like the others!"

The blue ninja curled up more in a fetal position, "No! I'm not gonna… they did nothing but care about me! It's not fair to do that to them! Garmadon cared enough to bring me back, and Misako did nothing but take care of me since I got here and they love their son!" he pleaded. "You can't just tear a family apart just because… because…" he didn't know Wu's true reasons, it was just something more than Lloyd being destined to be his downfall. "You loved her…" his eyes widened.

"What the hell are you blabbering about!?" Wu shot back defensively. The boy shut his trap right away, afraid to enrage him anymore than he already seemed to do. "You're going to do it tonight… then you're going to meet up with the others at the Fire Temple for the last weapon! GOT IT?!"

"Yes sir…" Jay covered his face.

"GOOD! AND REMEMBER THAT IF YOU FAIL IT'S BACK IN THE DUNGEON FOR YOU!"

"JAY?!" the blue ninja jumped hearing his name be called. Garmadon and Misako threw the door open, staring at him. "Are…" they looked around. "It's gone…" he eyed Jay with a frown, "Jay… did my brother come in…? Did he speak with you?!"

The freckled boy didn't know what to do, he was shocked that they could feel a presence like that rooms away. He clammed up when his shoulders were grabbed by the other two adults. His wide eyes started to leak tears and Misako sighed, hugging him. "Okay okay… we're not accusing you of anything… Jay, we just want to keep you safe until your mom and dad get here is all…"

He just nodded his head and felt her hug him tighter before helping him back on the bed.

The parents looked at one another and sighed, "Wu was there…" Misako wiped her eyes. "No doubt now he gave him orders to kill Lloyd, Jay already has enough inner conflict… what do you think he's going to do?"

Garmadon looked down the hallway at Lloyd who was coming in; looking tired, "I hate to say it… but I think he's going to kill our son… not back out and accept punishment again…" he swallowed. Misako squeezed her eyes shut, nodding.

"We're just not going to let that happen…" she straightened up. "I don't want to believe it… I want to be like Nya and be so strong and positive about it… but I'm convinced that's not really Jay anymore… I think you're right honey…" she lowered her head, walking down the hall.

"Mommy!" Lloyd squealed, holding her hands when Misako walked into the living room. She was the master hiding her feelings from the toddler and did it so well it scared her husband even how she suddenly turned on her happy face.

Garmadon folded his arms tightly, frustrated by everything now. _"My brother has four boys… I have four as well but Lloyd's too young… I need another… just to be safe…"_ he released his arms, running his fingers through his hair, mind going in a million different directions. _"I'll have to make a few more calls I guess… if I can't find another student… well…"_

* * *

Kai was the one shivering the most as they walked through the wasteland that was north Ninjago. Cole was just quieter about it and Zane wasn't even wearing a coat like the other two, completely numb to the biting wind through his thin ninja gi. He wasn't even turning blue or anything.

"Hey, aren't you freezing your tail off over there?!" Kai spoke up at last, teeth chattering still. "I mean… you look like it's the middle of summer! I'm sure it's below zero out here!"

Zane looked at his clothing, stopping for a minute, and shrugged, "It does not bother me I guess… we're almost there though according to this map," he looked at the parchment they had stolen from Kai's parents not that long ago. "Hopefully the ice dragon will not prove to be a problem to us like the earth and lightning".

Cole groaned, "I hate those stupid dragons! Why can't the just buzz off already!? Why did it even have to be dragons?!" he grumbled. "And this one can freeze us and we can get frostbite and die!"

"Chill it out will you!" Kai snapped but stopped. "Hehe… chill…" he sniffed, feeling his nose going numb, wiping it on his glove. "Hey! Look! I think we're here!" the fire ninja started running faster than the other two, seeing something glinting over the hill they were climbing.

"Time to grab those shurakins I guess… I'm rather excited to touch them…" Zane pulled his mask over his face, feeling the wind start to pick up now. "Let's go brothers, and hope none of Sensei Garmadon's friends will be getting in our way".

* * *

It was getting darker out and so far Jay wasn't behaving abnormal as far as anyone else could tell now, he was more or less sleeping. He did over hear Misako on the phone with his parents though, saying they were coming within the hour now. It made him sick to his stomach just thinking about seeing them again so he stayed locked up in the room, no longer able to rest.

The three girls however made their way into the small room that they shared, wondering how he was really doing. "Go away…" he whimpered to them after hearing them knock.

The three girls refused and opened the door anyways, sitting on the bed around him. "No…" Seliel defiantly told him. "Not until we get some straight answers from you…" they looked at one another, nodded, "Are you going to pose a threat to Lloyd?"

"What?" Jay peaked from under the pillow, shocked by the question.

"Yea… you heard us…" Skylar frowned, "We want to know… this is our family… and if you're going to hurt one of us… no matter what sensei or Misako said about helping you remain safe… we will end you if you dare touch Lloyd," she narrowed her eyes more.

"It's not because he's a savior or destined to stop Wu…" Nya swallowed, "We love him… and we'll do anything to keep him out of harm's way… simply because he's our brother" the black haired girl turned away. "You're welcome to our family too… but you need to tell us everything Wu's up to since we last saw you… and we need to know you will defend Lloyd with your life… become our brother instead… let us trust in you again… and trust in us again too…"

Jay stared confused at the three. They weren't exactly forced to be where they were; they more or less chose to be here, to serve the oldest brother and was close enough to call him family after a very short time of staying with him. The three of them and Lloyd seemed to share a stronger bond than that of him and the other boys could possibly know.

"Just forget it…" Skylar sighed, looking to her sisters, "He won't give anything…" she slid off the bed, folding her arms angrily.

"It's kind of funny…" Jay quietly started, looking at the white pillow. "Wu use to tell the four of us stories about your sensei… especially after I started my… torture…" the three looked back, wondering if it was a trick. "You're sensei was not always a noble guy…"

"Pfft," Seliel snorted, not believing he was pulling this kind of card, "Are you kidding me?" the three girls shook their heads and went to leave, laughing like it was a joke. "You should know you shouldn't believe everything Wu says by now! Especially after everything he's done to you personally!"

Garmadon was down the hall, listening to the four talk like that. He lowered his head at what Jay said and sighed, standing up and turning to sit outside to wait for Ed and Edna's arrival.

"I'd ask what bothers you… but I already know of course…" Neuro was already out there by himself, resting from playing with the kids. The brunette rolled his eyes and sat down anyways. "So Wu decided to tell his boys the old war stories… huh?"

"You make one little slip up that involves your brother to get hurt and… he gets personal about years later after going through so much trouble to convince me he was okay… seems he has a lot of reasons to kill me and Lloyd… doesn't he?"

"What did I tell you earlier?" he sounded more like a mother, reminding her child of a simple task.

"It's all in the past and blah blah blah, one man cannot carry all the burden and whatever… thanks for the remind mom…" Garmadon smiled a bit. "I still feel bad about it… I always will…" he looked back through the open doors of the monastery. "I need to tell the girls anyways… who knows what will happen if I don't be honest with them…" he laid back on the deck, closing his eyes. "They already seem to think I'm purest most noble guy they've ever seen…"

"Hey! Garmadon! We're making cookies! Wanna help us?!" he heard one of the kids call from inside.

He sat up and walked in after some prodding from Neuro, "Of course I'd love to help…" he picked Nya up, sitting her on one of the high stools at the counter in the kitchen. "But Ed and Edna will be coming soon so let's not try to make a mess, okay? They will probably be staying over…"

"I'm the master of water! I could clean it all up lickety-split!" the youngest student proudly said.

"Of course you could Nya," Misako walked around, ruffling her dark hair, making her laugh. "Now come on," she plopped Lloyd down on a stool as well so they could keep an eye on him. "What kind do you guys wanna make anyways?" she asked, rolling her sleeves up.

"I want sugar ones!" Seliel was the first to speak up.

"I want those cinnamon swirl ones though!" Skylar looked upset. "We made sugar cookies last time!"

"Okay! We can make a little bit of everyone's favorites, okay?" Misako interrupted, making a compromise. The other three nodded, feeling better about it now. "Grab the other bowls under the sink then".

Jay was quiet as a mouse; they didn't even know he was watching them from the unlit hallway. His stomach clenched more seeing them all happy together, helping one another and behaving the exact opposite of how his life had been so far. He started to remember Wu's orders for him. _"He said he'd be nicer to me… he wouldn't torture me…" _he swallowed, now looking at Lloyd, reaching a hand out to his mother who held his hand, kissing his face several times.

There was a loud knock. "I have it!" Neuro shouted from outside, opening the huge, creaky gates. "Wonderful to see you two again!" he led Jay's parents inside. "He… hasn't been doing so great in all honesty… he has… extensive injuries… not all of them are physical…"

Jay quickly darted back to his room, huddling under the blankets, scared again. He heard the door open, knowing that his parents were coming in, probably with Garmadon and the others right behind to keep an eye on them all.

"Jay…?" he heard it was his dad without a doubt. "Jay… we aren't mad… we missed you…"

"Yea sweetie…" he felt his mom pull the blanket off a bit. "What did he do to you?" she rubbed his back a bit, just wanting to see his face again after so long. "Please say something to us…"

He sat up abruptly, eyes bloodshot, "He wants me to kill Lloyd and I considered it," he shook more as Edna grabbed him, squeezing him tightly. "After everything… I considered it…"

"Why would you!?" both parents were shocked by their son's statement, not angry, but not exactly happy about hearing that. They seemed to understand what Neuro meant by not all physical.

Jay sniffled more, wiping his nose on his sleeve and looking at Garmadon, somewhat ashamed, "He… told me things and… I actually felt sorrier for… for Wu I mean… I don't know… I just want to be left alone!" he started shouting, freaking out.

"We're sorry about this…" Ed and his wife were trying to wrangle Jay who was pushing people away now more violently. "He… well… you know what's been going on with him more than we do…"

"Of course…" Misako looked at Jay sadly. "We're so sorry this happened… maybe it's best if he just stays in here for a little bit more… he used up a lot of energy last night and this is all… too much for him I think…" she motioned for the other parents to follow them out.

They looked at their small son and sighed, letting go of the twelve year old so he could be by himself, left to his own thoughts.

**Oh the plans I'm making... hahaha... and to anyone concerned for Jay still... no, I will not stop until everything is fulfilled and I finish this stinkin story... btw... I hope you all are happy to hear Garmadon gets a robot for his team very very soon teehee -w- so stop asking, she's coming I swear! XD**

**And yes I took the time for Kai to laugh at his stupid pun... **

**So thanks for reading. I was scared I wasn't gonna be able to finish this one in time to post tonight but looks like I lucked out! :D Now to try and get ahead and finish First Masters... I need to just end that one... one more arc until I do the thing... anyways, see ya later!**

**~Mar**


	23. Chapter 23

Climbing more over the hill to the Ice Palace, the three boys stumbled upon the small group of Skulkin who were supposed to be helping them. They were all tied up to their surprise. "What the hell happened?!" Kai shivered more.

Something zipped past them, "Gotta be faster and smarter than that boys!"

The three jumped at the voice, searching the landscape for their attacker, "Where the hell are you!?" Cole shouted angrily, not wanting to play any games right now.

"Names Griffin," a brunette young man zipped up to them, "And…" he zipped around them several times and showing up in front again, holding the scythe of quakes, "I'm the master of speed in case you haven't taken the hint," he smirked wide at the surprised faces the younger boys were making. "Didn't expect someone like me to be here right?! And the best part is I'm not alone up here!" he let out a loud whistle.

A huge thud came from behind. Kai, Zane, and Cole looked over their shoulder, squeaking just a bit at what it was, a huge man in thick armor with giant steel gauntlets. "Meet Karloff kids!" Griffin cheerily piped, leaning on the stolen scythe casually, "We were sent up here to watch over the shurakins with Shard the dragon. You may have had an easier time with the others… but I think you'll find the masters of speed and metal to be… a bit tricky for rookies like you! We've been training in our elements since we were babies!"

"What now?!" Zane looked back, staring at the scythe. "The scythe is the only weapon at least one of us can use and he has it!"

"And our lame back up is all tied up over there… I mean, not that they were much help anyways…" Kai could feel himself giving off heat because he was so angry.

Cole sighed, "We're screwed… aren't we?" he looked more scared of the one named Karloff.

* * *

Inside the training room, Garmadon had pulled the girls aside, even Lloyd who may not really had been listening to his father completely. He simply looked all around the room curiously being he wasn't in there a whole lot.

"Alright… story time for you four…" the sensei looked to Lloyd's wandering eyes and sighed, "Or… three…"

"Does this… have anything to do with… you listening in on us talking to Jay earlier? And he said that Wu told him and the others stories about you doing something bad…?" Seliel raised an eyebrow. "Because… we thought he was lying… is it true?"

Garmadon was surprised at first but he shook his head, sadly smiling, "You three really are quite the ninja now… aren't you… detecting me like you did…" he sat upright again, "But yes… as you girls know… back when Misako and I weren't married yet… well… we were in a war against Serpentine and… a bunch of other creatures that were rallied together by the Serpentine generals," he turned to Skylar, "Yes, this was the war that caused your father to show his true colors… and gave all of us some scars…"

"What happened then? With… you we mean…" Nya quietly asked.

The sensei let out a tired breath, wiping his face. "I never wanted to relive this in all honesty but… okay, here we go…" he swallowed again. "Misako and I were just dating… we didn't have much time for anything more what with battle planning… and my… well… espionage…" they three cocked their head. "My father always suspected that Chen was up to backhanded things though he claimed to be our ally… so I went and stayed there… as a student to watch him and his right hand man which Skylar and I both know as Clouse, he never liked me and I bet he always suspected me".

"Did… something happen? Dad didn't speak of you all that much to me… just well… he cursed your name a lot when something bad happened," the darker skinned student nervously laughed.

"Well I caught your father selling out information to the other side and fed our side lies and deception about what the plans were for the Serpentine… after about two years I came home again to find that the village most of us were staying at as a camp, Jumanokai, was under attack and ironically enough, my family was there as well, and I guess it was just one more thing to add to list of why he hated me… though he didn't see that I was saving his life I guess…"

* * *

_Garmadon saw the fire from the trail and he picked up the pace, worried for the town and the other masters, most of all, his girlfriend who he knew was there making battle plans and keeping in contact with him over the past twenty months he was a spy. _

_Kasai was at the head with Namiko covering for him. She doused the flames and he absorbed them, relieving the charring homes and shops. The married couple looked over at Garmadon's way, relieved. Kasai threw him a sword, "Come on! It's worse deeper in…" he looked like it was far worse than just that. "Let's go…"_

_The three sneaked around on the roofs of the small mountain town. The master of shadow appeared beside them from the shadows. They were looking at a hoard of snakes of all tribes, cornering the remaining masters. "Damn it…" he saw Misako was among those, however, Wu was not. "Raven, have you seen my brother at all?"_

_The brunette frowned, "Over there…" she spied the trick of the light. Wu was known to use his abilities to reflect the light so he would appear unseen by most anyone who didn't know the technique or was just unsuspecting. "He looks like he's going to try something stupid again…" she puffed, annoyed. "Hasn't he gotten hurt too many times already!?"_

_"__Again!?" the older brother stared._

_"__You wouldn't know but he's broken an arm… his legs… we're lucky we have fast healers like Namiko around…" the older woman sighed. "He keeps doing dumb things in hopes of protecting Misako… it's bad Garmadon, he's been so infatuated with her… he's furious she's always in contact with you and waits around for you to come back… she's not even addressing it anymore she's so tired of it… we think he's just blindly throwing himself into battles left and right, he's trying to show off and it's going to get him killed soon…"_

_"__Oh great…" the blue eyed one quickly hopped to the roof where his brother was. "Wu! Wait!" he tried to keep his voice low._

_"__Oh you're back at last it looks like…" the blonde grimaced, crouching low, "shut it, I'm saving her! You can't just show up after a five day siege and bust in acting like a hero! We've all suffered and now I'm gonna be the one to save her!"_

_"__WHAT?!" the brunette one blinked. "How can you even say that?! I want to keep my girlfriend and my friends safe… or do you just have the ulterior motives here brother? Because it really sounds like you do…" Wu looked away, "Listen… you jump down there, they'll shoot you down and I promise… you will not live"._

_Wu didn't like the sound of that and went to jump anyways. "WU WAIT!" that caught the attention of the archers who were there guarding all the generals. A volley of the spear headed weapons came shooting past the brother's way. Garmadon managed to activate his Spinjitsu midair, deflecting the arrows but it didn't soften the landing by much. _

_He heard his brother shout in pain and saw him land harder next to him, an arrow in his shoulder. Garmadon looked at his leg and groaned in pain also, an arrow straight through his knee. His cheek also burned where he scraped it on landing. His heart beat faster and he felt the full pain hit him. He could see through the snakes, Misako's horrified and shocked face; he was the last person she would expect to see show up to the fight._

_It was right after that the other masters let out a cry, even the ones that were captured, fighting back against the menaces that were invading. Amidst the ruckus, Misako limped over to the brothers. Seeing Wu could at least walk, she went to her boyfriend, trying to help him up._

_"__Oh gosh… you'll be okay…" she swallowed, looking him over quickly and assessing the damages, wounded knee, scrapped flesh on his cheek and collarbone, twisted ankles. A few bombs hit to their left while listening to Ed and Edna shouting at the Serpentine they were firing upon. "gosh… you look beat up…" she half laughed, slinging his arm around her shoulder. _

_Garmadon looked at her and frowned more, weakly, "What the hell happened to you?" He saw she was limping as well but managed to hold him up. _

_"__Shrapnel wound… it's okay… I'll be okay…" she sat him down inside a house, quickly pulling out the arrow, though he cried in pain. "Sorry…" she quickly wrapped it up as quickly as she could. "No doubt you'll have some damage…" she took her glasses off, shaking her head and looked up at him, eyes welling up. "I missed you so much…" she threw herself on him, squeezing the life out of him, kissing the scraped part of his face several times, the older brother peacefully was smiling, loving every touch from her._

_"__Sorry to interrupt…" they turned around to see Wu leaning against the doorway, holding the bloody arrow that he was shot with in hand. "Nice to see you just leave me out there for dead like that!"_

_"__He couldn't walk on his own! You were hit in the shoulder and you looked okay and alert to me…" Misako turned away, not pleased at all. The older brother wondered what really happened in his time away from home. "If you want disinfectant and gauze, then get over here…" she wiped her eyes, sitting up on her knees more. _

_"__Forget it…" he glared at his brother, "big shot still gets to be your hero at least… and he did nothing but try and stop me and get us shot at…"_

_"__And saved you from getting speared through the heart!" Garmadon pointed out. "The arrowed aimed for you ended up nailing me! Who knows if I'll ever be able to walk right again!"he hissed in pain as Misako cleaned his cuts._

_"__Forgive me for caring about the man I love and haven't seen face to face in close to a year…" Misako didn't want to deal with this now it seemed. Her boyfriend was shocked; she at least was nicer to Wu than this. "I'm done with trying to be your friend… you do nothing but scold me for waiting around and not trying to two time him!" she shakily stood up. "Not to mention… how many times was I got injured because of your impulse to charge in and fight… I look out for you and I get hurt and you don't seem to genuinely care! You don't love me… you just love what you imagine I am…"_

_The older one looked back to the wound on her leg. So that must have been how it happened it seemed. "Whatever fine… end this war without me!" Wu snapped loudly, throwing the bloody arrow down._

_"__You're like my brother Wu… why do you do this!? I just wanted to help you?" she quietly asked as the blonde was leaving. _

_He eyed her angrily, "Because all you ever did was think of me like that… I've been here… at home and you continue to ignore me… you were friends with my brother first so why the hell can't you keep it that way!?"_

_"__Sorry if I ignore you constant, rude flirting at me!" she sniffed. "Don't you just walk like this! You can't just jump back into a fight! Raven is right… you are crazy!" she saw he was ignoring her. "WU!" _

_"__I read reports about what Garmadon had to do to gain Chen's trust and acceptance…" he plainly said. "You sold some information yourself… didn't you brother? Safe locations for us masters on the front lines… passwords to hideouts… some of our hardships were because of you while you sat all cushy and happy at that dojo… you put the woman you apparently loved in danger while I tried to protect her here…"_

_The older brother looked away, knowing the younger was right about that. "I was told do whatever it took… I had my orders… and you had yours… father's word is law… don't you remember brother?"_

_Wu scoffed loudly, then laughed, "whatever helps you sleep better at night… but from this point on…" his pulsating red eyes glared back, "We are no longer brothers… we are not family… you are a traitor… and no one will ever see it…"_

* * *

"Wow…" That was all the girls seemed to be able to say. "So… you sold out information that got everyone else in a bunch trouble during the war?"

"Not a lot of it… but just enough… I wish I denied it all… but my father was very insistent on getting in good with Master Chen… Wu liked to think the opposite… he saw himself as the good son who was neglected though he stayed at home and helped the war effort by constantly throwing his life away… I was the one that forced to do the hard things though… I had much more burden to bear… I was a leader… I was expected to be one because I was the first born of Masuta… inheritor of all the elements like him… to follow and carry out my his orders no matter what… but I also had to lead my friends on my own…"

"What happened after that?"

"Well… the cherry on top of this little story is… well… what happened several days afterward… it had absolutely nothing to do with getting shot at or anything… it was the night I proposed to Misako in fact…"

* * *

_The battle was won and Chen was tried and ordered to be banished from Ninjago's mainland. Wu tried to tell the others that his brother was just as much a traitor as Chen was, but unfortunately, no one listened or even seemed to care, everyone focused on the happiness of leaving this mess behind them forever. _

_The next night he saw his brother sitting on the deck of the monastery, Misako next to him and staring up at the clear sky, a few lanterns on the overhang were glowing. They were bandaged up and looking tired and weak, leaning against one another. They had more lower body injuries than upper body ones like Wu. He hid more, trying to listen to whatever it was they were saying. _

_"__I'm so happy you waited for me Mimi…" he whispered, their noses were touching. "I'm so happy this is all over… I love you so much… I missed you the most…"_

_"__Same…" she pressed her mouth against his. "I love you too…" she started crying again. "Even if… oh it doesn't even matter anymore…" the green eyed girl hugged the taller one. _

_"__Misako…?" she looked up at her name. "Misako…" he looked like he was going to cry as well when he repeated her name, she always loved hearing him say her name. "Please…. please say you'll marry me…" he suddenly said. Wu's heart stopped; eyes wide with bated breath, awaiting her response and actions. _

_She sniffed, "Wu said you would never have the guts… he said you were probably off with the girls Chen keeps around… forgetting all about me… and I knew he was wrong…" she rested her head against his chest. "You've always been loyal… yes… thank you…" she started crying a bit more._

_The two young adults hugged one another tighter, oblivious to the lingering sibling in the shadows. He growled rather audibly, making the other two turn in his direction, cheeks turning red, "Wu…" the brother swallowed. "I… I thought we were alone… I…" their voices were shaky with emotion._

_Though Wu's face turned neutral, his eyes were brightly glowing red. "No… it's okay… you would have announced it anyways and I would have found out eventually… I'm… I'm happy for you…" his hand was clenching and unclenching like it always did when he was holding back feelings. He looked like he was about to explode which was what the other two older ninja were afraid of happening._

_He turned on a heel and stalked to his room, slamming the door shut before letting out an angered roar. Garmadon and Misako exchanged worried looks. "Don't go in there… he's just going to be bitter to us for the rest of his life… we can't help someone who doesn't want it…"_

* * *

"Few more years go by… father died and I got inheritance of the monastery and the weapons and other important items… unrest in general died down which was a good thing being I couldn't… and still can't fight like I used to… and the other masters started to part and have families of their own… and…" he smiled a bit sadly.

"The same went with Misako and I… we were rather afraid to tell Wu Misako was pregnant in the beginning… we didn't know how he would react to that… but…" he sighed, looking at the girls, "Wu wasn't wrong… I'm not a very good man… I did get people hurt… I had a conscious, I didn't have to follow through but I did anyways because I did have a big head when I was younger, Wu and I both fought for the hero status… I was not always the kindest brother too after a while of putting up with him… but we all have flaws and make mistakes… I've just have been learning to accept that…"

The three were silent, avoiding his eyes more now. Nya and Seliel's parents fought with him; told them nothing but good things about the great Sensei Garmadon who you could go to if you needed help. "We don't think any different of you…" Nya finally spoke up. "You're still the best teacher ever… you helped me as a little kid when other people would have said I was silly and shooed me away…"

He looked back at the three and smiled again, "You three really are the greatest students anybody could ask for…" he hugged all three of the girls who giggled and hugged him back. Lloyd waddled over, falling into the group hug as well, making his father smile wider, "And yes Lloyd, the same goes for you," he chuckled.

**My Serpentine War backstory for this universe... Wu is sort of a drama queen when it comes to not landing Misako as a girlfriend... hmm... maybe there will be more of these little story times later on... **

**As for now... Jay is safe... at last, a chapter where Jay isn't having a breakdown or in peril... oh goodness though... just wait until next week... my poor blue child... again... I bet everyone is not liking what I'm doing to Jay... right? Of course right, I read you comments and tumblr posts you know! **

**And yes, Griffin and Karloff are here at last! Yay! XD Next week you'll also find out what happens to the boys!**

**Thanks for reading! See ya around!**

**~Mar**


	24. Chapter 24

Jay turned on his side, staring at the wall and feeling hopeless inside. He didn't know what to do, or even what he should do at this point, he didn't want to be here but everyone was watching him, making sure he couldn't just take off. He flinched hearing the door creak open again, thinking it was his parents coming back in to talk to him.

"Hi…"

The auburn haired one frowned and turned, hearing it was smaller voice than the one of two he was expecting to hear. Lloyd was standing in the doorway, a little small smile on his round face. Jay was speechless, not even moving.

"People busy… can you play with me?" his hands were hanging onto the doorknob as he waited for Jay to respond to him.

The blue ninja wiped his eyes, really thinking it over. Wu told him he had to end this boy's life, but he wasn't in the least bit intimidated by him like he was with the others. For a moment, he started to think he was a serious failure but Lloyd looked back, smiling a bit more. _"Maybe… I'm just a failure to Wu…" _Jay swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. "Alright I guess…" he quietly mumbled.

* * *

Cole, Kai, and Zane were tied up back to back to back while Griffin was trying to get a hold of Misako with his satellite phone. Kai was busying himself with shouting and cursing at the two older masters but stopped when Karloff was watching them, blinking. "WHAT?! WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT YOU GORILLA?!"

"You make so much noise for boy so tiny…" Karloff commented with genuine surprise in his voice, scratching his beard. "You are just like your father only… angrier…"

Kai's blood boiled, "Don't compare me to him or to my mom or sister or anybody! We're gonna get out of here and I swear you will eat those words you big clunky walking suit of armor!" he ranted and raged even more while Cole was just enjoying the fact that Kai's body heated up the more he shouted.

"Aaaah… warmth…" he leaned his cheek against the side of Kai's head. "This is great… keep making him mad!" he told Karloff but Kai grew even angrier, with him now, even melting the ice and snow around them.

* * *

Misako had a smile of relief on her face after hearing what Griffin had told her, she even heard Kai screaming in the background. Neuro and Tanaka perked up a bit, hearing her sound rather happy.

She hung the phone up and raced to Garmadon who was still in the training hall with the girls. "They caught them!" she bit her lip in an excited smile. "Griffin and Karloff stopped them from getting into the palace and the skeletons that were following them are also captured!"

The sensei was smiling a bit too, turning from his students, hugging her tightly; kissing her cheek. "Good… maybe we can actually get somewhere with them… I hope so… speaking of which, better check on Jay…" he remembered, setting her back on the ground.

To their surprise, the lightning ninja was not in there as they expected him to be. They paled and quickly went to search the place, alerting Ed and Edna as well who started to help as well, but everyone stopped when they heard Lloyd laughing. They poked their heads into the nursery and saw Jay was sitting on the floor, bouncing a ball back and forth like they were brothers.

"He's laughing… they both are…" Misako covered her mouth, seeing Jay have a pleasant, but tired smile on his face, not even aware they were being watched.

Ed and Edna rushed over as well; smiling too now, seeing their son actually interact with someone again, let alone it being with Lloyd. The green eyed toddler looked past Jay and waved, "Hi mama!" Jay jumped, turning around, his face red like he was embarrassed of being caught playing ball with a toddler he was ordered to kill.

"Still think you can kill an innocent baby just because your master tortures you into thinking you're a killer?" Misako straightened up, folding her arms, looking more serious. He couldn't answer her, "No matter what you go through, it all comes down to your heart Jay… and you just don't have the heart to go on like this with them…"

Jay tapped the ball lightly, remaining quiet. The parents left the two boys alone, seeing as he needed to just sit and think about his options and choices, they had mixed feelings about leaving little Lloyd in there but they trusted in Jay to make the right choice.

"Well… you pathetic little baby… I tell you to kill him and you're playing with him instead!" The two kids looked to see the looming shadow. Lloyd whimpered, hiding behind Jay. "He trusts you now… so do it! He's just a weak little baby! DO IT!"

The green eyed boy looked up at the blue eyed one, wondering what that meant. "Why he say that to you?" he whispered, looking back at the shadow. When Jay didn't answer he looked to the doorway, "Mama!" he shouted nervously, still watching the shadow.

Instinctively, Jay clapped a hand over the smaller's mouth, pulling the younger kid closer to him, trying to hush him. He still was having an internal battle it seemed. "If you aren't going to be useful here… you're going to get your brothers up north who need help with the masters of speed and metal… and when you come back… you will be dealt with as you have always been".

Jay bit his lip hard, "No…" he quietly said.

Wu laughed sarcastically, "I'm sorry… NO? Not how this works _Jay_. You forget already what I've done to you!? You want to feel that again? I will turn that pale skin of yours completely black and blue for the rest of your life!"

"I… I…" he sniffled, feeling like he was going to break down and cry more. He let go of Lloyd, guiltily looking back at the blonde toddler who just looked confused and hurt a bit. "… I'm sorry…"

Instead of what Lloyd was expecting, he broke into a run, right past the adults and students in the living room, and he climbed up the tree and over the wall, escaping. Everyone ran outside, shouting his name as he was climbing, "If I'm forced to take a side… I'll go somewhere no one can find me! Maybe I'll just stick to _MY_ side!" he angrily shouted at them.

"JAY!" he parents shouted in horror at whatever their son was doing. "GET DOWN HERE!"

"Wu says he needs me to open his portal to escape… I'll be punished if I don't kill Lloyd… and I'll never fit in here ever! I don't belong anywhere now so I'll go somewhere where no one can bother me again!" he cried before disappearing over the side.

Lloyd hobbled out quickly next, Garmadon catching him and holding him so close Misako was afraid he was going to squish him. Everyone was stunned at the events that just occurred, Ed and Edna especially.

"I… I promise; I'm going to go after him and bring him back, I'm so sorry…" the sensei set the toddler down, grabbing his staff again and starting towards the gate at quick pace.

"You can't…" he stopped, looking back at his wife, angry at first for being told this. "You're limping…" she slowly walked over to him. His grip on the staff tightened, realizing what she was talking about. "Just… sit down… please…" there was a hint of annoyance in her voice. He still wasn't moving, "What the hell do you think you'll do if you tried to catch up to him exactly!? You think you're going to fight an upset, scared little twelve year old boy?!"

He didn't have an answer for her and he turned around. The kids saw there was a dark and bitter look on his face now as he was just scolded by his own wife in front of them all. Misako walked past the girls, stopping to look at them, "And do not think you three will be going after him either…" she shook her head, scooping Lloyd up and going inside again, sitting on the couch next to Neuro and Tanaka.

Garmadon was seat on the steps as ordered by Misako. He looked to Ed and Edna, "Stay as long as you like… I'm sorry this happened… I… have hope he'll come back soon…"

"Thanks Garmadon…" Edna smiled just a bit, patting his shoulder as she and her husband walked by, going inside again while the girls sat around him in silent support to what he wanted to do.

"That was the knee you said got shot through, right?" Skylar looked up and he nodded.

"If I run around or train with you kids or whatever else for too long it starts to hurt… and, you saw… that's why I keep this staff around…" he closed his eyes. "How would you girls feel… if… well, I got a fourth… student I mean? Because, I've been thinking about it a lot lately…"

"Another girl?! That'd be awesome!" Nya clapped her hands together. "Do you have anyone in mind?! Do we know her or something?!"

Garmadon shook his head a bit. "No… well… I spoke to another old acquaintance on the phone earlier and… well… I guess she's his daughter…" he scratched behind his ear, "I'm asking because… well… you'll see her soon enough… tomorrow… if… we're all up to it…"

"Tomorrow it is then… Misako won't let us track Jay down…" Seliel pouted a bit at the direct orders.

"She's just making sure it's not a trap or something I'm sure… she cares about Jay though, I know… she and Edna were friends for a while before the war, she'd do anything for her friends but… if their son wants and needs space, then… maybe he will come back after giving it some thought…"

"Pfft… or he'll go running back to Wu again instead of people who could actually help him…" Skylar mumbled.

Garmadon pulled her ear suddenly, "We can only do so much young lady… training is done though for tonight… go… rest… everything will be just fine…"

"Yes sensei…" they groaned a bit, trudging inside to get changed for bed.

**guess who's coming soon -w- haha so... yea... Jay may be out of the picture for a little while now... I wonder what will happen...**

**thanks for reading! :D**

**~Mar**


	25. Chapter 25

"Okay Karloff, let's bring these three back home where they belong…" Griffin stretched his arms over his head, arching his stiff back and yawning, turning around to see his friend dozing off, the three ninja still struggling to get out. "HEY!" the metal master snapped awake. "Pay attention to them… come on, Misako said we gotta bring them back home, you can't just doze off like that… what would happen if they broke out while you were there napping!?"

"Okay okay…" the older one yawned, getting up to pick the three boys up when Kai shouted some form of a battle cry and they all seemed to spring out from the now warped twine the other two had tied them together with earlier.

"Dammit! I didn't consider Kai's flame could hot enough to burn through that stuff like that!" Griffin growled, trying to catch them again one at a time. "Get back here you brats! KARLOFF! HELP ME!" he looked back but the metal master wasn't doing any better than he was; he was lumbering around, trying to grab at them like earlier, he was much slower than Griffin was though, they were opposites, he was speed and the other was metal and henceforth, slower.

Before Griffin could look back and respond by at least grabbing hold of one, they were already getting away, "Catch us if you can you idiots! We outsmarted you! And we're just a bunch of twelve year olds!" Cole laughed loudly, jumping over a snow bank, still fast enough even with his feet getting caught in the snow.

Griffin pulled on his short hair, growling back at the kids who were causing so much trouble for everyone, "Come on! We gotta get them back before they get to the shurakins and Shard wakes up and does who knows what to them all! Misako and Garmadon said they want them ALIVE!" he started running, "And you know how pissed _she'll_ be if we let them get hurt!" he started zipping off.

Karloff seemed to remember that suddenly and started running faster, "Yes! Do not anger Garmadon's tiny wife! Save children!" he booked it past Griffin with a newfound speed.

* * *

Garmadon stopped at the top doorstep of a rather big looking house. Seliel, Nya, and Skylar looked up at the big structure with wide eyes as he rang the doorbell twice, hearing it echo inside the house, "Our new teammate lives here?"

"Yep… I guess well… you'll see soon enough…" their sensei nervously looked back, wondering if they really were going to go along with this once they saw the girl he was talking about as their new sister. "Cyrus?!" he banged on the door a couple of times. "Hey, it's me!"

Finally the door opened up and the three girls were quite surprised to see the man who answered the door was in a wheel chair. He seemed happy to see Garmadon though, "Long time no see then…" he rolled the wheels back, letting them in. "Got your message last night… kind of last minute but… I… think she'll be ready for you to work with… you're going to take care of her then? Because… she's very special to me…"

"You have my word…" the sensei was walking alongside his old friend while the students were looking all around the foyer, then living room. "She won't get hurt or anything of the sort… I protect these kids with my life… I… just figured… Lloyd is still young… and three can't take on all four all the time… and I have… a lot of things to tale care of… I need some help is all…" he then remembered Jay running off.

"I understand just fine and I trust you with her…" Cyrus stopped, "Pixal… come out please".

"Yes Mr. Borg!"

The three girls looked at one another, confused; they had assumed this girl was his daughter by the way he talked about her to their teacher. She even sounded a bit strange, not to mention her name. Pixal? Who would name their daughter a robotic name like that? Finally she stepped out and they just stared at her with wide eyes.

Pixal was a bit taller than they were; pure white metal skin with markings on her face and arms. Her eyes were glowing bright green and she tilted her head when she looked back at the three, just as confused as they were at her. "Are these the people you had informed me about last night?"

"Yes…" the black haired man nodded, looking back to the three girls who continued their staring. "You're staying with them at their monastery at the edge of town, it's not very far away… Remember when I outfitted you with some… new attachments?" he asked.

Pixal looked at her fingers, green sparks flying with a confident smile on her metallic lips. "Of course I do… I see why now… his monastery is for training… correct?"

"Right on the nose. Other masters have been staying with us and besides these three, my wife and son live there are well," Garmadon nodded. "So what can she do exactly?"

"Ninja of technology… she can hack into anything, control electrical currents in the air… she can upload a virus in seconds to anything… I hope she will be useful… she's a quick learner… I wasn't able to outfit her with much fighting styles though so that part is all up to you. She's like any normal, hard working teenager in her mind… though it will take her a little bit to readjusting to not being an assistant…"

"She'll do just fine, I know it… you made her after all," Garmadon chuckled, patting the shorter android on the head. She responded with a smile to this gesture. "Come on then miss".

Nya, Seliel, and Skylar were still rather confused. Here before them was a robot, clearly mechanical in every way possible, and Garmadon was treating her like a little girl, like a human being even though Cyrus clearly said her purpose was a lab assistant and aide for him. The sensei noticed this and frowned at them, "And you assume she doesn't have feelings same as you?"

"No! Uh… it's just…" Skylar looked away, embarrassed now, covering her mouth.

Nya was the first to step up, smiling a bit more, "Well, it's nice to meet you… I'm Nya!" she bowed like how she would meeting her other sisters before a spar or when they first met. She would admit, it may had been strange, but she was willing to give this a try.

"Nya…" Pixal seemed to scan her, "I can remember this," she nodded her head once in a small bow, smiling, "A pleasure; master of water".

"Alright alright, we should be getting back now, I'm expecting news from another friend up north and I don't want to be away much longer," Garmadon quickly started ushering all four out of the house with him. "Time to see just how good Cyrus said you were". Pixal seemed to react back with another small smile. "I have a feeling you're going to fit right in with these kids Pixal".

* * *

"COME ON! FASTER GUYS!" Zane looked back at the red and black blurs heading straight for him, shivering even though all their running should have kept them warmer. "IN HERE!" they ran into a passage way cut from the ice. "Follow me!" he started zipping through the tunnels until they reached a courtyard of ice.

"WAIT! How do you know your way around here!? You've never been here before, same as us!" Kai stared, wondering.

Zane shrugged a bit and gestured for them again to come inside, "No time for this now, I just have an intuition or something! You guys know that though!"

"They're gonna get us!" Cole squealed, hearing their confused shouts, running inside as well, slipping on the ground and hitting a wall by mistake, "Oooow… Just find the shurakins and let's get out of here already! I don't want to stay here any longer!"

"Don't forget about the dragon though! Remember what happened back at the Caves of Despair?!" Kai shot back. It didn't help much; only making Cole want to cry at the thought of face yet _another_ dragon. He had enough of it all to be honest, yet there he was, right next to Kai and Zane, running from two powerful elemental masters who were ordered to catch them and bring them before their master's brother, probably for punishment.

The white assassin, stepping forward more, caught sight of a shiny golden glint amongst the blue white colored ice and started off again while Kai and Cole were turned around, seeing if their pursuers were about to come through the corridor and tackle them at any given moment, though it probably wouldn't do them much good as they were half their size and strength.

The white clothed boy looked back once before extending his hands, seeing the frost covered weapons on a pedestal made of solid ice. He could feel a more intense cold coming off of them the closer he got. He never felt cold before like this, he could walk through a blizzard with nothing more than a light sweater; this was something completely supernatural kind of cold to him. The blonde nodded to himself; concluding these had to be the shurakins and not some trap or decoy, he could feel it.

As soon as his fingertips touched the weapons though, they froze, ice creeping up his hand, then wrist, and arm, shurakins stuck in his hands now. "Hey guys?! We… have a problem… I can't fight with these right now!" he swallowed hard, wondering what was going so wrong.

Kai and Cole ran over and sighed loudly, seeing the ice all over his hands, "Ugh! Always something isn't it?!" Cole growled and started quickly pulling the ice ninja along with him. "What's the deal I thought you were an ice ninja! Why the hell did it freeze your hands?!"

"Well… remember when Jay tried to grab the nunchucks and he had all that lightning run through him that completely wiped him out? Or when that earthquake hit when you took the scythe?" Zane posed the questions. "I think the same thing happened… it should wear off soon… but we need to find a way out of here first and then I can use them! There must be a back way or something…" he examined the chamber.

A dragon roared and room turned even colder.

"Please tell me it's not a dragon Kai," the black haired boy sounded like he was crying.

Brunette looked over his shoulder and turned back to Cole, "… nah, you're good," he shook his head before the dragon roared with icy breath next to their three heads, the black ninja screaming now.

* * *

Pixal may have been a robot, but she moved nothing like one when engaged in combat. Her eyes glowed brighter and she was like a snake, weaving in and out of everything all three other girls came at her with. They quickly saw she was now an asset to this team and not just someone to fill a fourth spot.

"That's enough!" Garmadon called and Pixal stopped, returning to her normal posture, hands neatly folded into her purple sleeves, bowing to the other girls. "Don't need you tiring my other girls out Pix," he smoothed her disheveled, silver hair down as he walked by her and did the same to his other three. "Go on and lounge around until dinner time, you look tired". He shooed all four girls away.

"I feel that Griffin and Karloff are experiencing some trouble with catching are boys…" Tanaka said when Garmadon walked into the room. "I think we should be worried…"

"I feel the same… we can go out and find them if you want, you could stay here and relax for once with Misako and kids…" Neuro stood up, offering. "I'm sure Griffin and Karloff could use help… you know them… one's too fast and the other's too slow…"

The sensei looked down, considering the offering, "Well… okay… it seems like it would be a good idea I guess… I do see your point there," he ran a hand through his hair. "Tanaka; you going to be okay though? You're arms in a sling still…"

"They're up north, I may not be Zane's true father but he is my responsibility nonetheless, and I can deal with the cold just fine," the gray eyed man stood up, fixing his tunic, rotating his shoulder once. "Besides… I can control the shurakins, I'm an ice master, in the case that those boys really have found them of course, I have every right to go up there, my weapons, my son".

Garmadon shrugged, "Alright, I trust you… I still think you could still kill a man with both hands tied behind your back you know," he smirked, Tanaka shook his head at the compliment, "Call me when the situation is confirmed under control," he tossed Neuro a scroll, "I know you never liked these but, I would use a teleportation spell and have one memorized, you know it'll be quicker".

"Thanks," the master of the mind nodded, "Alright, time to check on those two goofballs… see you later, tell Misako where we went to help please! I know you're not one to tell the full truth when it comes to stuff like this…" he sighed, closing the sliding doors behind him.

When the older man walked into Lloyd's room, he smiled seeing him playing with the girls, even Pixal now. Misako had him in her lap on the floor, watching them bounce a ball back and forth and catching the times their son missed the catch. This was his family, even those four girls who weren't even his blood, one didn't even have blood when you thought about it, but they were all getting along, happy.

The only sad shame was that they were brought together by a string of bad events, an impending doom that they would have to go out and fight when the day came. He constantly tried to not think of that but it was always there, his purpose was to ensure they would learn enough to survive a dual with a dark lord; it was a little hard to not think about.

When it came down to it, he may have partially lied to Cyrus, he doubted even himself if he could keep them safe, he couldn't even help Jay calm down when they brought him back to the monastery and now who knows where that boy ran off to.

Finally he decided to shove that thought away and sat down next to his wife.

**Yes, finally, Pixal is here. The entire gang is together. Does this satisfy you all at last? XD**

**Also... no questions about Jay, I'm not gonna answer them because I'm making my plans... my devious little plans.**

**Oh and sorry for the unannounced week hiatus I pulled, I forget what I was doing but I was beat when I got home and I didn't wanna update. Tonight I might update First Mastera. **

**Thanks for reading though, see you late! Steel yourselves for future chapters because I will be planning something bad and mean:)**

**~Mar**


	26. Chapter 26

Dragon roars were never a good sign if you were stealing a golden weapon from its hiding place, especially if you had Cole with you because he would be useless in every way to you. "Guys… just… we should just run…" Zane looked at Kai and Cole who were not doing so hot in this new situation. "Ugh…" the boy rolled his eyes, "Follow me!" he snapped at them before taking off.

The other two decided at last to follow him, avoiding the icy breath of the white and blue colored dragon that they had angered, her roars rattling the huge iced throne room, huge icicles starting to fall, nearly hitting the three boys as they made a scramble for what seemed to be the exit.

On the way out however, Zane tripped over a small ledge of thick ice. The last thing he remembered seeing was hard, snow covered rocks and the shout of the others behind him. "ZANE!" They screamed after him.

* * *

"Hey guys," Misako walked out, Lloyd on her shoulders, zipping her jacket up. "We're going to the store, want anything while we're there?" she asked the girls who were sitting around the TV, awaiting Garmadon for the lesson of the day.

"More grape juice please! Garmadon drank the rest of it for breakfast!" Nya shouted loud enough for Misako to hear as she was walking into the kitchen to grab her purse with her son and make a small list.

"Oh and can you get a big box of red vines?" Seliel also shouted. "Garmadon also finished them when I wasn't looking last night even though he said I could finish the box…" she mumbled.

"Ooh yea," Skylar looked over, agreeing, "I think we also need more chocolate cheerios!" she added in.

"Let me guess…?" she peeked out from the kitchen, lifting Lloyd from her shoulders.

"Garmadon". They all said in unison, chuckling a bit.

"That man… sometimes he's my second child… he has a horrible sweet tooth in case you didn't notice…" the older woman found and grabbed her pocketbook, holding Lloyd with her other arm as she was slipping her sneakers on, stuffing a list in her pocket.

The sensei walked out after hearing his name being thrown around several times, looking around, "What did I do now?" he asked but received a kiss on the cheek from his wife. "What was that for?" He blinked, confused.

"For being a huge dork," the smaller woman smirked, carrying their son out the door, "Making a quick run to the store and thought Lloyd could use some fresh air, he never gets to leave… because of somebody's… mother hen tendencies…"

The graying man folded his arms, raising an eyebrow at her remark, "It's not the safest you know! Who knows where Jay's loyalties lie now! Or what my brother will plan next should he get you two cornered and by yourselves! Neuro and Tanaka still haven't even sent word that they met up with Griffin and Karloff! Something bad could happen to you two!"

"See?" she slid one of the doors shut, "Mother hen… Honestly Garmadon, I fought a war and came out almost unscathed, I think I know how to defend my own son…" she closed the other and was on her way, the students, even Pixal giggling at her.

"Alright alright," he waved his hands, "Go on, get yours gis on and meet in the back training room would ya?" he turned the TV off. "Mother hen…" he muttered but was interrupted by Skylar and Seliel clucking a bit. Nya covering her mouth as she tried not to laugh harder. "I don't know how I've lived with all you girls for so long!" he shook his head, giving Skylar a bit of a spank as she laughed into the bedroom to change.

* * *

Everything seemed fuzzy and a strange ringing was the first thing he could hear as his vision came somewhat back to him. Zane blinked several times, puzzled when words were across his vision field that read "Rebooting Systems". Then he saw Kai and Cole's faces when that vanished at last, eyes refocusing.

The earth and fire ninja both looked horrified at him, but he wasn't sure why entirely. "Hmmm…? Guys? Did… did we lose them?"

"You…" Cole swallowed.

"YOU'RE NOT HUMAN!" Kai blurted out.

Zane snapped at attention, the shurakins were a few feet away from him, ice finally broken from his hands and arms, and it seemed they lost their pursuers for now. But he remembered what happened, he tripped and fell down a small ridge, right? But what did they mean by 'not human'? He felt normal, he functioned exactly like a proper human being, or at least it seemed to be.

The white ninja remembered the "Rebooting Systems" dialogue box, remembering seeing it on computers and looked down to find that they had pulled his robes back to reveal some form of a hatch that hid some kind of mechanism and a glowing power source, stuffed with switches and wires underneath.

"I… uh… I didn't know…" he meekly admitted.

"YOU DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE A ROBOT?!" Cole shouted at him, seeming almost angry.

"It seems I have an ability to grow a bit… like a natural human… but I… how was supposed to know?! I eat, sleep, I go to the bathroom! What do you mean I'm a robot… I…?" he felt all strange now. The two he remotely considered friends looked at him like he was a monster and not an ally or brother like what Wu forced upon the children.

"Then Wu doesn't know probably…" Kai fell silent. "We… let's get out of here and deal with this crisis later… I'm sure he has some questions himself when we show him…" the fire ninja looked back, worried they were going to be found. "Let's head back to the forest around Ignacia and regroup… we need to find Jay too… who the hells knows what that loser's up to! We'll… we'll deal with… _this_ later…"

Zane wasn't getting up though; he was huddled in a ball now, feeling out of place suddenly. An hour ago he was perfectly normal, now he was a robot? He didn't feel like one in the slightest. Then again… that would have explained the fact for the lost memories of early childhood, being almost impervious to cold and could hold his breath under water for so long. He had no memories; he was like this for a long time, how long, it was impossible to tell right now, for all they knew, he could be a hundred years old and just never had a growth switch turned.

Hey looked downcast as Kai and Cole kept their distance, looking back every once in a while. He felt how Jay felt now, out of place, unwanted. What would happen when Tanaka found out too that he was just a robot? Would he want him back? Would Wu still accept him as one of the ninja he trained? The white ninja stared at the shurakins, swallowing hard.

_"__Now I know what Jay meant when he said there was nowhere he would feel welcomed and wanted…"_

* * *

Wu kicked the side of his throne in an angry fit while the sentries were trembling, hugging one another and praying they would not be hit, "HE JUST DISAPPEARED!? HE RAN AWAY FROM MY BROTHER AND HE JUST VANISHED?!"

"Yes sir! No one knows where he could have ran off too!" they bowed, bones rattling louder. After so many years having him for a ruler, he was more like an angry child who would throw fits if nothing was going his way and would proceed to beat them around until they fell apart.

The dark lord looked down at them with glowing eyes, this always seemed to happen. "If he only ran away last night, he must be around Hikari SOMEWHERE. Search the forest areas; he'll be wanting to get away from pretty much anybody so start with that! Move it!"

They saluted and quickly ran out to gather up several more of them to form a search party.

Wu plopped back down in his chair, grumbling to himself. "Why can't nothing ever go right? Pathetic idiots… I'm surrounded by them… those stupid Skulkin… my brother… Chen… those bratty girls, my disgustingly adorable nephew… the other elemental masters who stick their noses where they don't belong… even my own damn pathetic students are idiots!" he clawed at the stone armrest, festering about everything.

He waved his hand creating a dark cloud, one of his several tricks to seeing what was going on with others. He was quiet for a minute, hesitating to say who he wanted to see. Wu looked around to make sure no one was going to come in and sighed, "Misako…"

He never would admit to anyone he liked to spy on her the most, but every time she was playing with her son or being cute with her husband. It was a bit of a disappointment every time.

The dark lord was met with the picture of the light brunette woman, some gray streaks in her hair; he smirked a bit but saw she was carrying her little boy around while she was shopping. He glared in disgust at the baby, how dare he be cute, and the offspring of his brother at that.

This chubby cheeked baby was to be his downfall… this just humiliated him at the thought. And the worst part was it was practically five years and he still had many failed attempts to murder this child, the hardest part was with every fail; his brother had more and more watch dogs over his little boy.

"How dare you marry him…" he hissed as she nuzzled her baby's face, kissing him when he hugged her or did anything cute. "How dare you bear his child… How dare he be the green ninja… or even exist for that matter". He glared at her image. "I will take away everything from you… and then you're gonna bow down to me…" he leaned on his left elbow. "Then you'll be my Misako… not his… or anyone else's".

* * *

"Here you go baby," Misako held the ice pop for him until the toddler took it for himself, "Thank you for being so good, we're almost done now, then we can go back home and play with daddy before dinner".

"Kay momma," he slurped on the cherry flavored ice while she looked at him, smiling wider. "We gonna play ninjas again?"

"Of course," she chuckled, paying for her things. Lately, to help get Lloyd motivated to train, they turned everything into a game and it was surprisingly working for them, soon he would officially learn what he was supposed to grow up to do and would hopefully take to regular training like with the girls, but if he was anything like them, he would be a great ninja.

**Jay will possibly turn up in the next chapter... maybe... who knows... but yea, Zane is still a robot. I secretly did not change that. I just wanted to surprise any doubters by changing the mechanics a bit like he was built as a 12/13 year old and can grow taller :3 **

**Imagine how much fun Pixal will have when she finds out he's a robot and she can literally hack anything owo**

**Oh and look creepy Wu infatuation/obsession moment there in the end. Like what Steven I talked about the other day, Wu's batshit crazy because he's not just evil instead of Garmadon, G was a bit insane, but not like this, it's because Wu he didn't get Misako and Lloyd... and has some... possession issues I guess. **

**I'm hoping this is only going to be like 50 chapter in all honesty because this mean I'm just a bit over halfway done haha... Thanks for reading! :)**

**~Mar**


	27. Chapter 27

Karloff had given up, deciding to sit when they reached the iced over throne room where the shurakins would have been resting. Neuro and Tanaka had made it in time to calm the dragon down. "This is just _perfect_… For all we know… those boys could be a long ways away…" Griffin grumbled, plopping down next to Karloff.

"They're covering some ground while we're all sitting here thinking about our next move though…" Neuro looked around, frowning. "They may be heading to the Fire Temple next though so I recommend we all make our move to there. I'm sure Garmadon would agree with me".

Tanaka looked back from petting Shard's snout, nodding in agreement as well, "I sense Zane is in distress… much like how Jay was… I am not sure why though… I hope something bad didn't happen to him…" he looked back to the ice dragon he was friends with. "I guess we better move now though if we want to catch them in time… oh and… Jay is on the run, we also have him to track down next I suppose…"

"Great," Griffin sighed, "Karloff, you in or out with us?" the brunette looked back at the metal master.

"Sure, I help," he stood up, following the other three out of the palace. "Let us go then…"

* * *

Wu frowned, thinking to himself about the problem with finding Jay. His underlings were too stupid probably to find him let alone catch him and bring him back. Though the boy was twelve, he was fast and pretty smart when it came to hiding, he always did better than the other three at that skill.

The dark lord smirked though, thinking of the perfect person to hunt him down for him. He quickly turned into the shadow form and zipped off to a little place where he knew lived a man who would literally do anything for a quick buck. "PSST! HEY!" he hissed, seeing the man he was looking for.

The brunette perked up, turning to look over his shoulder slowly, jumping out of his skin when he saw who was there, watching him. He calmed down, realizing who it was, "Last time I saw Misako… she warned me that you would ask me for a favor someday when you got zapped… I thought she was crazy but it looks like I was wrong…" he narrowed his one good eye.

"I'm not asking for a favor, I'm cashing one in," Wu scoffed, "Remember when I caught you trading information to Chen's contacts and I told you that I wouldn't tattle on the other masters if you would owe me a few?" the shadow smirked. "Besides… I was going to pay you SOMETHING YOU KNOW… I feel you'll be needing some incentive…"

The brunette looked away from the shadow, biting his lip, "Fine, I'm listening… but if you're gonna ask me to take a Golden Weapon, I work with obsidian, no ice, lightning, earth, or fire you know and you need one of the masters to nab it…" Wu laughed more, "I… take it you're not talking about that…"

"Well to cash in this favor… you're… going to do two things for me… the first is finding one of my runaway students, his name is Jay and he is my lightning bearer… he seems to have lost his way…"

"And what's the other one you had in mind?" Ronin raised an eyebrow.

Wu folded his arms, "You're going to kidnap our nephew of course… I'm sick of waiting and for things to go wrong and I know you're motivated by… well, money. You want to get paid; you'll carry out everything I'm telling you to do, got it?"

"I'll get the first kid because I know you won't kill him, but… I knew Mimi had a son… I may have only had seen him once… but…" he trailed off, looking at the red eyes, "You want to kill him don't you?" he asked.

"You will do it… or I drag you down here… end your life earlier than what we both planned," Wu threatened. "Bring Jay back here and then do what I just told you. All you have to do is bring lloyd to me; you don't have to do anything else".

"Listen… I may not have the greatest relationship with my sis and I don't really like the fact our siblings got married… but I'm not gonna let a kid get hurt let alone one that can't even defend himself in the slightest," the mercenary grimaced, "I'll get your kid Jay, but that's it, go get someone else to do the dirty work!"

"You owe me Ronin… you'll be tracked by a few of my Skulkin to make sure you… make the right choice…" he laughed before disappearing.

The other man sighed, shaking his head, "Great… just what I need…" he grabbed his hat, looking out the window. "How am I gonna get around that last demand… might as well get the first kid and maybe that'll put Wu in a better mood when I tell him to take a hike…" he started out the door.

* * *

Jay climbed over a cluster of rocks, his foot getting caught between two. When he finally got it out, the boy sailed forward into the dirt. He laid on the ground like that for a few minutes before he decided to sit up, wiping his face of the dirt as best as he could.

He sniffed, rubbing his eyes more. It had been almost two days since he high tailed it from his parents and the sensei. He started wondering if that was a bad choice. So far no one was running after him, not even Wu so maybe he was finally alone like how he said he wanted to be.

His stomach growled and he groaned a bit, getting to his feet, he went almost the whole day without eating and was beginning to feel weak, it had been a while anyways since his last meal. The auburn haired boy started walking, looking around for any kind of fruit tree, remembering that there were peach and other fruit trees in the forests around the mountain and village.

The blue ninja smiled, spying what he was after, clawing his way up the tree, collapsing on a big branch that could hold his weight. "Awesome…" he grabbed several peaches and stuffed them in his robes before jumping over a couple more trees to find several apples.

He finally parked himself near the stream, eating what little fruit he found. Halfway through eating he stopped, looking down with a sigh. This was no life. He was twelve! He was going to spend the rest of his like this? Running and hiding from people so he wouldn't have to make a choice?

Throwing the pits away from him and stuffing the rest in the folds of his robes, he stood up; looking back the way he came that would lead back to the town and monastery. "Maybe I could just… run back home… instead… I bet mom and dad left for there by now…" he wiped his nose on his sleeve. "They missed me… right?"

The freckled boy stopped in his tracks when he heard the bushes rustling. Finally a head poked out right when he was about to turn tail and run, "Don't run! Don't run! It's okay!" Jay had tripped over his own two feet. "I'm not here to hurt you kid…"

"You've been following me haven't you!?" Jay swallowed. "I thought I felt someone else around here…"

"Wu got… worried…" the other coughed, "But he says he's willing to forget your disobedience if you return without a fight so let's go kiddo," Ronin picked him up by the back collar of his dirty ninja robes. Jay kicked around though, landing his foot in the adult's side, "Oooow!" he coughed, dropping the boy. "Get back here Jay! Come on!"

"MAKE ME!" his disappeared into the forest more.

The older man groaned, "I better be getting paid good for hunting the brat down…" he sighed, "Wu never said he was that fast!" He made it to a clearing and looked around for any sign of the lightning ninja until he heard crying.

He slowly walked around, trying to listening and follow. He climbed up a tree at last. Jay was… crying? He wasn't even bothering to run now. He didn't say or do anything. The mercenary rolled his head back, sighing loudly, "Okay okay, I won't drag you back to the Underworld… though… oh gosh Wu's gonna skin me alive…" he looked around, wondering if the skeletons were lurking about somewhere.

Jay looked at him suspiciously, "Haha, yea, and when I'm asleep you'll tie me up and bring me back is all! Buzz off!"

"No, I promise, seriously… listen… he told me I had bring our nephew to him so he could kill him… I can't do that one for sure… I'm being forced to do this as it is to you… he's got Skulkin following me around and making sure I don't try anything funny…"

"Nephew?" Jay blinked. "I thought Wu just had one brother…" he wiped his eyes again, calming down a bit.

"Heh," Ronin smirked, "I don't have any brothers… just a sister I never see anymore… I still don't want to hurt her son though…"

"Y-You're sensei Garmadon's brother in-law?" Jay's eyes grew wider.

"Yep… we never liked each other and I never liked Wu even more… Garmadon I could tolerate but he's… a piece of work… at least I know he protects my sister and wants to stop the maniac brother… well…" he stood up, ready to climb back down, "How about you zap me a few times and I can say you over powered me and that can be the end of things?"

Jay looked down, picking dirt from under his nails, "I have a better idea…" he looked up. Ronin raised an eyebrow, wondering what the boy was going to say to him, "How about you take me with you?"

"Kid… are you serious?" the other blinked, "You want to hang around me?! I'm a mercenary? You thinking living with me could be any better than… this…?" he gestured to forest around them. "I'm struggling too so don't think it's any better… Wu will know you're hanging around me and that won't be too good for the both of us…"

The blue ninja looked defiantly up at him.

"Ugh fine, whatever!" the one eyed mercenary jumped down, "Tag along if you want but I need some excuses to make… and I need to go talk to my sister before I leave the area and I doubt you want to go and do that with me!"

"What about those skeletons though that you said were following you? You just gonna leave me down here to wait for you!?" Jay swallowed, following him down the tree as well. "Are you gonna take care of them or what!?"

"Chill," Ronin yawned, tired of the boy's manic-ness "My little ship is around here somewhere," he tossed the twelve year old the keys. "Lock yourself in and hide and don't activate anything until I get back, okay?" Jay nodded, "Good, now it's down the path a few yards, you should be fine for and if Skulkin do show up, there's a bunch of green buttons that fire off guns and stuff… should send them running".

"Uuh… thanks…" Jay looked at the keys and down the road he was supposed to take. Ronin nudged him a bit and he set off running.

* * *

Misako was busy in the kitchen, Lloyd and the girls at the counter on the stools, Garmadon busying himself with messing around with his wife who was just trying to finish making dinner, attempting to not worry about things with the other masters and the boys. When they heard the knock on the heavy outer gates the adults looked up, "Sel; can you go see who it is?" she asked the oldest of the girls.

The pink haired ninja nodded with a smile and hopped down, opening the gate for whomever their visitor was. "Oh… uh… hi…" the man swallowed, "… is… Misako home?"

"Yea…" she nodded, looking back. It was silent for a few moments but the young girl turning to lead him in. She opened the doors and peeked in. The others were looking at her, waiting for her to say who it was. Garmadon wanted it to be Neuro and the others with good news. "He knows you…" she walked in, the man behind her.

"Well… hey sis," Ronin grinned uneasily.

Misako straightened up and the girls looked at her.

**For now, I'll be nice to Jay...does this please everyone? I almost forgot today was Friday lol...**

**Well...uh... I got nothing else to say, thanks for reading! See you guys later!**

**~Mar**


	28. Chapter 28

It was mainly the four girls who were seriously shocked by Ronin's greeting and they looked to Misako for an explanation, "My brother…" she nodded, "Whom… I have not seen… quite some time…" the two looked at one another; there was a silent vibe of dislike directed towards each other. "For good reasons too… he liked to play with some of our minds for laughs and later, for money…"

"I'm not here to argue to fight… I'm just gonna be honest here… you were right… Wu came looking for me and… well… demanded I kidnap your son so he can off him and avoid the prophecy thingy you all care about so much…" the other started with a sigh. Everyone looked at Lloyd who tilted his head, not understanding, "He also demand I drag Jay back to him… he said he was willing to pay but also had some of his best fighters chasing me to make sure I would do it…"

"Why the hell are you telling me this then?" she narrowed her eyes, pulling her son closer. "Why are you here?! You gonna do it!? Because I wouldn't be surprised if you tried one of your cheap tricks… making it seem like you're the good guy…" she snapped.

"Heey," he pointed at her, "Don't get all huffy with me, I promised Jay I wouldn't let him see Wu or you guys again until he made his decision! And as for your kid…" he looked at the toddler and sighed, "You needed to know… Wu's batshit crazy and I think I know a bad deal when I see one. I stopped by just to say adios for a long while… ore maybe never again". He saluted and turned to leave.

Misako looked back at her husband, those two butted heads more than she did with him many a time during the Serpentine War when it came to whose side Ronin was really on, but she nodded to him. Garmadon just shook his head but she ignored the gesture, "If you need help or… find anything out… you're welcome in our home again… thanks for doing the right thing…"

"Yea yea, don't get used to it," he waved his hand, rolling his eyes. "He's your only kid and Wu's mental, just like I said, someone's gotta take him down and if it's that brat then so be it. I'm just keeping me head down!"

"Of course…" she smirked, knowing what he was really thinking. For an earth master, she seemed to be able to read the mind reader's mind. "Take care of Jay now…"

"Meh, I'm only letting him hang around…"

"Sure…" she nodded more as it continued before the doors shut.

The girls looked back to Misako, surprised, "You had an evil brother too!?" Skylar stood up on her chair, slamming her hands down on the counter, upset that they weren't told any of this.

"Evil?" Misako raised an eyebrow, "No no… he's just… would sell his own kidney to pay his rent because he's dirt poor and tries to hustle people… evil? Uh… I'm pretty sure he turned away from that path a long time ago… he just… lost his way during the war… people wanted information… obsidian masters are masters of the mind… everyone wanted one to be their spy… Neuro was strictly with us out of loyalty and Ronin… just saw dollar signs…" she looked back to Garmadon, "And I don't need you being so rude… be happy my brother is looking out for us… not mention we know Jay is in… well… semi capable hands…"

"I still don't like him," Garmadon mumbled under his breath.

"He looks cool, did he lose an eye?" Nya piped out of nowhere.

"Uh yes, during the war actually… he apparently did something Chen didn't like and Clouse cut his eye out…" she bit her lip, knowing it was rather gruesome to think about. The girls didn't seem grossed out though, they found it rather cool.

"Come on, dinner's almost ready!" the green eyed woman set Lloyd down again and ordered the students and her husband to sit down and not worry about such things right now, they had bigger worries than Jay running off with her brother.

* * *

Jay was dozing off in the ship; at least he was warm and a bit more comfortable now, and at least had somewhere to go now that wasn't home, the monastery, or the Underworld. Yea Ronin was a sleazy thug, but he at least tried to warn him and let him tag along, you can't be that bad if you do that, right?

The freckled boy snapped awake when he heard a sound of squabbling. He peaked out the front window, shocked to see who it was yards away through the trees; Kai, Zane, and Cole, angrily looking at each other and gesturing wildly. He wished he could hear what they all were saying, because they probably were looking for him. They just kept on walking though, not even noticing the ship he was sitting in through the foliage.

* * *

"Who even cares about Jay at this point!? Screw him, let's just get someone else! Why do we need some crybaby like him anyways!? He did nothing but slow us down and helped the enemy!" Cole growled, looking back at Kai.

"Hey… guys?" Zane quietly tapped Cole's shoulder. He looked back, spying Jay through the trees. The blue ninja gasped. He was spotted? They seemed to have made eye contact from the far distance. Then again, it was no surprise, it was Zane after all.

"No one else can replace that easily; stupid! You need a descendant of the lightning masters to make it work, not just anybody!" Kai snapped back. Zane looked to be silently being the mediator though it was doing no good for anybody; they were as dysfunctional as ever with or without Jay there with them. He kept looking back at Jay the farther they walked, sadly, they kept ignore his poking.

"When I see that traitor I'm gonna make him complete his end and then I'm gonna kill him!" Kai shouted even louder, frustrated more than he ever had felt in his life. "Because of him, this ruins my chance at being respected! Wu's plans are as good a nothing right now!" he punched a tree suddenly, shouting because it hurt, but he was too angry to care about it at the moment. "The only good thing right now is me getting that blasted golden sword of fire! When I get I'm gonna hack that baby to pieces for ditching us!"

"Uh guys?" Zane quietly tried to gain their attention yet again.

"Not now Zane!" Cole sighed, looking back at the white ninja. "We need to get the sword… and calm old firebutt down…"

"SHUT UP DIRT CLOD!" Kai raged right back.

"But-"

"No one cares about some rare bird you saw! Just shut up and keep walking or else we'll never get there and I'll melt that endoskeleton thing of yours so you won't be able to stand up!" Kai rolled his eyes, holding his aching hand.

"But Jay's right over there guys!" the blonde finally shouted, pointing through the trees.

Jay squealed in terror and tried to duck down, hitting his head on the dash board. "OOOOOW!" he shouted, loud enough for anyone nearby to hear through the glass. The other two snapped at attention, heading in his direction now. "Oh great…" he whined. "Ronin; where the hell are you!?"

He spied the keys to the ship that had fallen and frowned, looking at the place to plug them in. "Well… he did say I could use it in the case of an emergency… but…" he looked down, thinking it over. "I don't want to hurt them… they were the closest things I had to friends… brothers- AH!"

"I'm gonna kill you!" Kai was fuming even more now. If his whole body could be on fire, then yes, it would be happening right now.

Jay jumped back, spooked by the sudden outburst. "Okay, guns it is…" he quickly decided upon seeing they were hostile to him. "Sorry guys…" he bit his lip, wiping his nose before looking at the control panel filled with buttons everywhere. "Kai… I hope you're smart enough to at least try and dodge… I really don't wanna kill anybody…" he muttered to himself.

"Hey you brats! Get away from my ship!" Jay flinched and looked over when he saw Ronin charging in, ready to take on all of them at once it seemed. He pulled a pair of pistols from hidden holsters under his jacket and fired off warning shots at their feet. "That's right! Buzz off you little freaks!" he shouted when Cole, Zane, and Kai jumped back. "I don't plan on getting in your way of heading over to that Fire Temple but blue boy's comin with me!" he snapped, aiming higher now in case Kai snapped.

Zane grabbed the fire ninja's shoulder, shaking his head, "It's not worth it Kai… besides… who knows if the masters that actually _want_ to capture us are catching up… this guy just wants to go… let him, it's not worth taking risks for now… plus I think he's aiming the guns at you now…"

"But I need to teach that punk loser a lesson!" the brunette, looked back to Jay who slunk down more. He shook his fist at him and Zane pulled him back.

"Cole… please… this is not wise…" the blonde turned next to the earth ninja who was half accepting to leave, but wasn't against the idea of fighting these two. "Cole…"

"Fall back and head to the temple…" the darker skinned boy sighed, taking a few steps back as well. "We'll see you later Jay! We're comin for you next!" he pointed to the blue eyed boy who started feeling uneasy about that threat, they would surely carry it out the next chance they got.

Ronin climbed into the ship, plopping down in the driver's seat and turning to Jay, both seeming more calmed down after the events that just happened. "Some friends, right? I can see why you don't wanna go back…" he turned the key in the ignition and the ship hummed to life as he flipped several switches.

"So… what are we gonna do now?" Jay asked after several minutes of silence.

The older man shrugged, "I… wish I knew kid… no doubt Wu will be hunting me down for ditching out on him… same as you… he claims he always gets what he wants… it's looking more like he's just throwing a fit because things keep going wrong for him…"

Jay chuckled a little bit with his knew friend.

"In all seriousness… I... I don't know…" he looked back to the mountain he had just climbed to talk to Misako and her family, "Maybe I might want to try being a good guy for once…" he half smiled but shrugged again, "Eh… maybe later… off to Stiix!" he loudly stated and punched in the coordinates. "It's not much but I own a pawn shop where I sell stuff I steal…"

"So you're a thief?" the boy asked.

"Thief… swindler… mercenary… the guy who can't pay his rent all the time and is stuck doing cheap labor jobs from time to time to get money… you name it, I do it… and if you're gonna be living with me though, you gotta pull some weight and help me out!" he punched the kid in the shoulder.

"Hehe… right…" Jay sighed, rubbing his shoulder where he was just punched. "Of course…"

"And don't worry, those boys probably don't even know about Stiix, it's a little place in the middle of nowhere over open water, you should be just fine if we keep our heads down for a little bit… I uh… also, may have some other enemies besides Wu…"

"Like who?"

"Uh… several gangs around the area… some police who I'm sixty percent sure are still looking for me… uh… Chen's gang… but like I said, we'll be fine; Chen was caught and sent back to the island years ago! Next to Wu he was the most dangerous enemy."

The lightning ninja just hung his head; this was all fairly bad news. Then again, that's what he got for making friends with a mercenary. _"Oh I hope I won't regret this decision…" _he thought to himself, trying not to look concerned.

Kai stepped up the stone carved steps first, Cole and Zane right behind him; this was it, the doors to the Fire Temple, the resting place of the golden sword of fire, the last of the four golden weapons they were sent to retrieve.

"Here we go…" he looked over his shoulder, making sure the other masters weren't in sight. "Let's get in and get out and go back home and no one will be the wiser! Then we can go after Jay ourselves later…"

"Right," the other two nodded and they ran inside.

"What happened Tana? They just went through, right?" Tanaka looked down at the other three who were waiting for the ice master to talk.

Tanaka nodded, "Yes… they just went inside…" he jumped down. "Griffin and Karloff; you guys go in first, you'll put up a better front fight than me and Neuro," he gestured to his arm in the sling.

"Aye aye captain," Griffin smirked a bit and zipped up to the steps in time to catch the door before it closed all the way. "Come on Karloff! I can't wait until those kids get scared out of their minds to learn we followed them all the way here! This is gonna be real fun."

The four masters followed their prey inside.

**The sell the kidney thing I got from Webchow because we were skyping and we were talking about Ronin and I figured it'd be funny for Misako to say. I'll be going more in Ronin's life too in this au. Darreth will be brought in at some point too btw... I do have plans but my brain doesn't want to function properly all the time with writing hehe...**

**Ugh, so yea, not sure if I wanna put this on hiatus for a week or two... I'm gonna be making a shorter Halloween story this year compared to the one from last year's. Normally I would have most of it written by now but I'm lazy and I only just got an idea last night... I'm torn between making in the world of Ninjag, but ignoring cannon and having Garmadon be alive as well as Chen and Clouse and even the ghost characters or making everyone normal humans in a modern world with no magic... or possibly a mix. Yea, it's hard and I'm torn. **

**Also, turns out I might be making this longer than 50 chapters haha... yea... it won't be as long as First Masters, but it'll most likely by my second longest running story... ugh and I have others to wrap up uuuugh... I know no one really cares and generally likes what I post whenever I can post, but I feel like I'm being lazy... I may surprise you all with some updates over the rest of the month though... who knows...**

**So thanks for reading! It means a lot :D**

**~Mar**


	29. Chapter 29

Kai, Cole, and Zane crept along the stone pathway, looking down at the red orange lava that would bubble from time to time. "Hey, look over there," Cole wiped his brow, elbowing Kai who looked at what he was looking at: the Golden Sword of Fire that belonged to the First Spinjitsu Master; passed along to all the other fire users over the centuries.

Kai's dark brown eyes lit up when he laid eyes on the beautifully crafted weapon, the hilt looked like a dragon's head, the blade extending from it, much like how the scythe and nunchucks appeared to be. "Oh boy… it's even better than I imagined," he smirked wide. "Come on!" he ran ahead, though the other two were rather cautious of the lava directly to their right.

The sword in question was sticking out in a rock; ready to be plucked by the next fire user who would be worthy enough to posses it, or at least have a strong enough will to yank it from its place.

Just before the young ninja could grasp the handle of the sword, heavy footsteps came, "Well, look what we have here!" the deep, gruff voice of Karloff came. "You three won't be escaping this time!" he chuckled, slamming his metal gauntlets together, a metal coat covering his body like an extra layer of skin for protection.

"Not you guys again!" Kai growled angrily. "Keep them distracted while I get this thing out guys!" The boy in red hopped on the rock, both hands pulling at the sword, but it wouldn't budge even when he heaved with all his strength.

"Little hard to do you know!" Zane looked around, keeping his eyes locked on Griffin who was literally running circles around him, shurakins of ice in both his hands as he observed his target, waiting for the right moment to strike, "You better hurry Kai! They have back up!" he shouted.

"And this time… you're not going to get away from us… because there is nowhere to run here, no back doors where you can sneak out of," Neuro came up the steps first; Tanaka appeared behind him moments later.

Zane stalled, slowly lowering his hands when he saw Tanaka's arm was in a sling. The older master of ice looked rather hurt that he was doing this. Because of this delay, Griffin grabbed the young blonde and tossed him to Neuro who restrained him without so much as flinching.

Tanaka picked the shurakins up and looked to his adopted son, "So they recognized you too… I bet we really are related somehow…" he looked to Zane. The nindroid turned away more, closing his eyes. "Hey… I'm not angry at you, you know…" the elder ninja placed a hand on the younger's head.

"Come at me you hulking metal monster!" Cole gripped his scythe, taking slow steps back as Karloff advanced with his heavy steps; a wide grin on his scruffy face, knowing that he could easily overpower the boy of earth with one swipe. The scythe probably wouldn't even make a dent, "KAAAAAI! ZANE'S OUT AND I'M NOT LIKING WHERE THIS IS GOING FOR ME!"

"Damnit!" the brunette shouted in frustration as he strained all of the muscles in his arms. Suddenly, he fell back on the walkway, sword in grip as it had slid from its holding place. "ALRIGHT! I GOT IT!" he panted, struggling to get back to his feet again, the blade igniting with fire.

"You idiot!" Neuro looked around when the lava looked to becoming more active, "You don't even know how to control it! None of you know how to control those weapons! You aren't in tune to them and you're all overly emotional that it's setting off the volcano this was built into! Wu taught you horrible!"

"Not my problem brainiac if this place is gonna blow! All I know is that I came make this thing spit fire! So that's all I care about!" Kai growled back, "Now step aside so that I can get back to the Underworld! Come on boys!" he saw Zane was sitting on his knees, not doing anything. "Agh… are you actually kidding me!? Get up!"

"Come quietly… it'll be better for everyone I think… I don't want to tell Kasai and Namiko that I had to beat around their son like he was some maniac…" Neuro puffed, his olive eyes watching as Karloff carried a half conscious Cole over his shoulder. "Kai… don't do this, come on, we got your friends, and we'll help you guys… Garmadon and Misako have been very kind to Jay when he was with us… and they will be willing to forgive you for all this trouble!"

The fire ninja looked at all four of the masters that were sent to collect him. He just shook his head, looking behind him. He of course remembered there was a way to get to the Underworld near where he was standing. "I will never go with you! You'll all bow before me and my master! You'll see!" the boy took several steps back and dove right over the lava falls that would lead to the Underworld, laughing the whole way.

The four elemental masters were in a stunned state as they watched a twelve year old dive head first into the Underworld without any hesitation whatsoever. "Well… I… I guess we better bring them back at least… Wu only has two weapons… we can work with that for now… come on boys…" Tanaka murmured, seeing everything quiet down in the temple after Kai left. "The dragon will continue to watch other this place for us in the case Kai will return here…"

* * *

"So… Jay's with Ronin… and now we have these two little troublemakers…" Garmadon exchanged glances with his wife; then both looked at their children. "Oh boy… Wu will probably make some kind of dangerous move quite soon when Kai tells him all about this… especially with the Night of the Dead coming up…"

"What's that? It sounds scaring…" Lloyd blinked.

"It's when all these creepy monsters from the Underworld and the other scary realms can come to this realm and scare people and stuff," Skylar explained with some enthusiasm, "My dad used to love this time of year… it even takes place on Halloween of all days!" Lloyd didn't like the sound of that though.

Misako nodded, "Yea… and with Wu having free reign for around twelve hours… who knows what he's going to do here…" she pulled Lloyd into her arms, "Steal the weapons back, kidnap his students again… take my baby once and for all…" she stroked the toddler's hair. "We've been fortunate enough so far…"

"Nothing's gonna happen… it's not for another week so we have some time to prepare for that issue, though he has never come here in the past years to attack us even though he very easily could have," Garmadon assured her and the others with confidence. "For now we have two boys that have a lot of explaining to do… and we'll need to see where their loyalties truly lie…"

"I will not run…" Zane was kneeling next to a half awake Cole and decided to suddenly speak up after giving the silent treatment. The white ninja looked more ashamed then the black one who was looking up with defiance. "But I do not know how I feel about working with you people…"

Tanaka held a hand to the white ninja's shoulder, "No one's going to make you do anything son-"

"I am not your son," Zane sounded rather cold now as he jerked his shoulder away from the older master. "Do you even know what I am!? We aren't related, I can promise you that!" he looked more hurt at Tanaka who decided not to say anything more, though he didn't understand what there was to be so upset about, Zane knew he was adopted, he was well old enough to remember.

"And I'm not gonna be bossed around anymore!" Cole snapped next, rubbing his eyes. "I'm done with being held back and being told who and what I should be!" he clenched his teeth. "My dad did enough of that to me and I'm not gonna let some more old idiots I barely even know do it too!"

"Fine, I can understand that," Garmadon tapped a finger on the table, shrugging his shoulders like their wanting to be difficult meant nothing to him, "I'm not going to let you go though as of now, you'll either speak and answer my questions, or you can keep your trap shut you big mouth!" the two ninja were looking up at the much taller man, he sure seemed kind to the others but when he was talking to an adversary, he was stone faced to the fact that they were even children, "I will not torture you like how my brother likes to solve his problems, I will not starve you or deprive you of sleep either, as a father, I couldn't possibly do that to children. You will be locked in a room and monitored though, fair enough?"

They kept silent, half out of defiance, the other half out of pure shock.

"Right…" the sensei sighed, easing up just a bit more. "Well… I only have one room left here… it belonged to my brother, and I haven't touched in a long while, since Lloyd was born to be exact… let's throw them in there I guess, no need to clean anything up, let them see for themselves how demented my brother truly was and still is."

"Garm…" Misako sternly looked at him. "That might as well be torture for them to be thrown in there with the place looking like that… I saw it once for sixty seconds and it freaked me out…"

"But it's the only place we have as of now… so it's not like I'm personally choosing to toss them in that room" the graying man looked back to Cole and Zane who flinched at his harsh gaze, "but… why not show them what happens when you want all the power in the world and will do anything to get it…?"

Misako sighed and looked to her other elemental friends, "come on then boys, I'll unlock it for you…" they all started to walk down the long hallway to the room in question. Zane and Cole didn't know what to expect.

* * *

Kai was practically flat on his face as he kneeled before Wu in hopes he wouldn't get his head smacked by a metal staff, his sword laid out in front of him to at least show he completed the main goal. "And then they showed up, corning us and now I'm the only one left right now..." he glanced up, "What are we gonna do sir?!"

Wu scratched his beard, "Well… Jay's with Ronin you said? And my last two boys are kept at the monastery along with their weapons, eh…?" Kai watched his master get up, nodding at the statements, "Well then Kai, I certainly hope you're up to carrying out some important tasks without any team to back you up…"

"I'll do anything for you sir," the boy stood back up, head held higher than before, sheathing his sword of gold.

"Good," the dark lord walked by him, patting his shoulder, "At I least I know I can always count on you Kai… you're better than the other three for sure! I couldn't ask for a better right hand man than the descendant of fire! You are plenty like your father only far more… ambitious than he would ever be… he was weak and never used his powers, when it came down to it, he was no friend of mine in the end…"

Kai just nodded a bit more with his dark master who was bashing his father. Kai didn't care, he did agree with Wu, his dad had the power to spark fires and yet, he did everything by hand, stoking flames and taking the long way around. "So, who do you want me to free first? I'll head out right away!"

Wu thought it over for a minute and looked over his shoulder, "I want you to go after Jay first… the Night of the Dead is upon us… and I would love to help you get Cole and Zane back down here personally and in the flesh… you see… it's been a while since I visited the monastery in person… the past years, I spent my days of freedom dealing with allies in person… but now I can afford to use my twelve hours to visit my childhood home and cause quite the ruckus…" he folded his hands together, "My big brother won't even know what hit him…"

Kai smirked more before he turned and darted out, ready to go find where Jay and Ronin were hiding out and laying low from him and Wu, feeling excited to actually go out on a single man mission. "Look out blue jay, no matter where you're hiding, you're not safe and I'm coming for you!"

**Well, while I was in the neighborhood... I realized that the next chapter to this was more than enough complete... though it took me almost two hours to revise and add in... would have been about 1500 words but I managed to get it to about 2200 words so yay, long enough and p much my average chapter size!**

**Sooo... Kai's currently the only one left... I wonder if the others are going rogue now, hmMMM? So this one is gonna be longer than I expected but it probably will not pass 70 chapters... who am I kidding? I said that about First Masters not being more than 115 but that chapter is sooo not the end chapter haha.  
**

**IDK if I'll be able to regularly update this one again for a while. I want to, so lets see how that plays out hmm? As it is I want to started writing for Falling Inside the Black (again, I keep saying this yet never get around to it XD I'm horrible aren't I?) but yea, I'm trying to pace myself and I know you guys are pretty chill with how I update and schedule my life here, so thanks for not sending me a million messages about when I will update things XD  
**

**Thanks so much for reading! you guys are awesome and I'll see you again!**

**~Mar**


	30. Chapter 30

Jay looked at Ronin, "I'm sorry, but you want me to sell this for how much!? This is a piece of junk!"

Ronin clapped a hand over Jay's mouth, "Will you shut up kid? This is how I make my living, selling junk to stupid tourists; now you heard me, haggle and get them to pay at least fifty for it, nothing less," the mercenary pushed Jay in the direction of several possible customers. "And make up some stupid back story to make it seem like it's priceless!

It wasn't the best choice probably, but Jay was learning to like this sort of thing to be honest. Ronin wasn't really a bad guy and the good part is no one was coming after him now that he was hiding all the way in Stiix! Wu would never see that one coming! It had been a whole week and no trouble whatsoever came upon them…

Unless you counted almost getting caught by the Stiix police stealing from a few vendors… twice within three days as a matter of fact. For the most part, Jay found it kind of fun and terrifying at the same time.

Ronin grew to like Jay being around pretty fast, though he pretty bad when it came to thieving or trying to make a quick buck off the stupidest people that walked into to his 'novelty' shop. He was a pretty honest kid despite his several years with Wu.

He looked over his shoulder and froze when he saw a pair of brown and amber eyes peering in through the shutters outside. "Damnit, are you kidding me?!" he looked to Jay when the pair of eyes looked to him first. Kai knew he had seen him.

The older man cleared his throat, "Hey Jay…" the blue eyed boy looked over. "Um… I'm sorry but I need to see you for a minute… sorry people, but I need to close the shop for a little bit," he pretty much kicked everyone out of the place. "No need to freak out here, but we need to leave…" he turned around after he had locked the door.

Jay tensed up, "It's Kai isn't it!? Did he find us!?" His blue eyes darted around the small pawn shop.

"Oh boy…" Ronin sighed, wiping his face as the boy freaked out, "Not to scare you anymore than you already are… but… Kai's right outside… right now… looking into the window and probably about ready to come in here and fight us…" he scratched the back of his head. "Just get into Rex and I know a nice place we can go for a bit and lay low again…"

Jay didn't need to be asked twice, he darted right past Ronin as soon as he finished his sentence.

The bounty hunter slowly backed out of the room, pulling his glaive out in case Kai decided to jump him. "I would try and alter Kai's memories… but he could kill me before I would get the chance… and he's so strong minded I bet…" he swallowed, looking over his shoulder and made a run for the back landing pad, pressing the button to fire his ship up.

_"__Kay… now I just need to find an actual safe place… why do I lie to kids to make them feel safer?!"_ he thought to himself.

* * *

Misako tapped her foot, arms folded as she constantly looked out the window, like something was coming for them the minute she looked away. It may have something to do with the fact that it was Halloween Night quickly coming, and she knew that Wu was coming for them, or more importantly, Lloyd.

Garmadon slowly started to guide her away from the window at last, hands on her shoulders. "Okay… please calm down will you?" he turned her around to look at him next. "Come on…" he touched her face, "We will be fine… I can protect you and Lloyd and the girls from whatever he wants to do…"

He could see her green eyes were welling up, "But you're leg and-" he couldn't take hearing her worry anymore so he kissed her quickly.

"I won't be fighting alone… I know you could give Wu a beating he will never forget…" he smiled a bit more. "Not to mention… we… well…" he sighed when he heard the girls laughter shriek followed by Karloff and Griffin playing around with them and Lloyd, "Them I guess…"

"I know… I'm just so afraid of that sun going down…" Misako hugged him tightly. "I don't think I ever worried this much since… well… what happened to you when Lloyd was a baby…"

"That will not be repeated… I promise… I won't scare you again like that," he kissed her forehead and turned to walk down the long hallway, stopping at the door to his brother's old room.

"Still not going to talk, are you boys?" he opened the door a bit. Cole and Zane were still cuffed, just as a precaution but they were tightlipped since they got there.

Cole had his back turned to the door, unlike Zane, but this time, he managed to speak, "Wu's gonna come tonight… isn't he?" Garmadon kept silent now, "To be honest, Zane here doesn't know what he believes anymore, but I'm not gonna go back to whatever you called my life… never again… I'm gonna demand respect instead of trying so hard to please everyone else… because it did no good… that's why I follow Wu…"

"Whatever…" the older man grumbled at his stubbornness. "Think whatever you want, you aren't leaving here one way or another… I'll send your master back where he belongs… stuck in the darkness he loves so much…" he locked the door once more and turned, leaning against it.

It was getting harder and harder for him to see them it seemed. Zane would just sit there, unfazed by everything and Cole would just grumble and complain about everything they gave them. He shook his head, "Damn myself for caring about kids too much… a criminal should be a criminal…" he wiped his face and decided to go back out and wait for the hour in which his brother would come for them.

The earth ninja let out a puff of air when Garmadon left the room at last. He personally hated being locked up in this strange room. The wallpaper was torn and peeling, part of the walls was even torn open, revealing broken wall beams. The creepy deal breaker was all the weird stuff cut into the walls or drawn on in what looked to be bloodstains.

"We need to break out of here tonight when everything is in chaos when Wu gets here…" Cole whispered to Zane who opened one eye to look at him. "What are you doing this for anyways?"

The ice ninja shrugged his shoulders, "A part of me wants to change the world… I was always the outsider… much like you, or Kai, or Jay… people would go out of their way to exclude me or make it a priority to tell me I was strange… I don't quite like being treated like that… Tanaka always told me that I was just unique and special and that I should simply embrace it…"

"And?"

"I got tired of being pushed around…"

It his voice was cold and dark enough to send chills up Cole's spine. Though the boy of ice was much cooler headed and lighter than him or Kai, he had his own dark side that showed when he was angry or frustrated.

"Then it's decided… we're going to break out, get our weapons back, maybe kick those girls around a bit and get the hell out of here with Wu…"

"Sounds fine to me… I couldn't have said it better than myself…" the nindroid nodded a bit.

They both perked up when the door opened again. This time, it was the pale skinned android they had seen on the way into the monastery. Her shiny green eyes stared at them. She was even odder looking being on the outside she was obviously a robot.

She was obviously built like an older teenager and was taller than most of the other girls. "So… you're the new freak on the block here?" Cole scoffed at her. "You're a robot, what elemental powers could you possibly have?! You're not some kind of descendant… Zane at least has a piece of whoever made him inside…"

The purple clothed girl narrowed her glassy eyes and snapped her finger, a green spark zapped his back, making him yelp in pain, "I will not be so easy to defeat if you think for one second my sisters and I will let you leave here tonight… remember this… I have no pain censors… and was refitted for combat…"

She looked back to Zane who looked at her with curiosity rather than disgust like Cole, though looked right away as soon as their gazes met and she closed the door without another word to the two captured boys to walk out and sit with the others outside.

* * *

On the front porch Garmadon found his wife, students, and friends on the deck and the railings, watching as the sun was setting over the mountains as orange turned purple and the black night came. They were all here out of choice, they wanted to be here and help him, he couldn't ask for a better family than that…

"Ready yourselves… he's come…" Garmadon pulled his katana from its sheath first as the gates opened with a gust of wind.

**Slowly but surely guys... I don't want this one to be some long epic like First Masters but it will probably be my second longest running story... 100 stories not included because those are just a collection of one shots and and not a continuous epic...**

**I am gonna say this story is about... hmmm... 3/5 done... I don't wanna say half quite yet because that might be a lie... we're looking at possibly more than 60 chapters... unless I just do some more time jumps than I originally planned... possibly after the next chapter, there will be another time jump... I need some more time to plan after the next update that will hopefully come before 2016 haha...**

**Just think though, after I free up 100 stories, First Masters, and the holiday stuff, I can focus on finishing this and can started up Black King and White Queen and Falling Inside the Black again! (FItB is kind of just for fun like, that one isn't the best written and is kind of chaotic but I'm gonna finish it because I planned on an ending and it's only right too... I feel so bad when I see dead fics that were never finished...)**

**Soooo next chapter is a slug out with Wu... and Kai will chase Jay and Ronin more... **

**Thanks for reading everyone! See you again here hopefully before the new year comes!**

**~Mar**


	31. Chapter 31

The wind blew the gates open in a huge, violent gust, the girls flinched just a bit, chills going up their spines. "Don't do anything stupid… girls… you're to protect your brother in the worst case scenario… let us handle Wu… he would try to kill you in an instant…" Garmadon tightened the grip on his katana, eyes forward in time to watch the black figure of his brother come up to the entrance.

"Ah… it's so wonderful to be home…" the dark lord stepped through, stretching his arms over his head. "Been a while… hasn't it… I mean… last time I was physically here… why… was it not the night of my dear nephew's birth?" he looked to his older brother, "When you condemned me to hell…" he looked less pleasant now.

"That's… him?" Nya blinked, standing in front of Lloyd more, not believing until now the stories of her sensei. She didn't quite know what to expect him to look like. "Pixal… take him inside and make sure he doesn't run off or anything… he's right, it's up to us to protect him in case they can't!" she said to the android ninja.

Pixal nodded and pulled Lloyd in. He was too busy staring at his uncle with fear in his green gold eyes. Wu gave a twisted smirk at him. He could at least scare his prey.

"What a lovely welcome party you all have here for me… I am truly honored!" he turned back to his brother and old friends.

"Where's Kai?" Garmadon would be doing the talking. He wondered why the little red brat was nowhere to be found.

The younger brother shrugged, "Oh you know… out doing some errands for me… like retrieving that lightning brat and killing the man who is helping him hide…" he turned to Misako, "Oh… it's not like you care about that useless brother of yours… you always hated him…"

"Shut up!"

"_Misako_," her husband sternly told her. "Do not aid him… he is not going to kill Ronin… he's just trying to piss you off so you'll do something impulsive…" he was straining to not just jump in and fight himself right there and now.

"I know not to doubt him anymore…" Misako shook her head, holding her own sword so tight she could feel her callous palms chaff. "He means to kill all of us… anyone who ever 'hurt' him…" she sniffed.

"He is not killing anybody!" Garmadon was not pleased with his wife's sudden emotional trip right in front of Wu. "You know better than anyone what Wu will do… and you cannot let him think for a second that he's in control…" he looked to the red eyes of the man who he called brother a long time ago.

Wu laughed, "It makes me sick how much you care about everything yet you attempt to remain so stoic and emotionless… you're so easy to read… I would love to see you try to hold me off until sunrise… because you cannot hope to have enough strength… you pathetic old man…"

The elder laughed a bit, "Yes well… this old man has plenty of fight left in him… injuries or not… you won't touch my family Wu… I'll never stop fighting until I know the world is safer from the likes of you… and I at least have friends I did not betray…"

"You're all pathetic… did you forget that you did betray your friends!?"

Neuro grimaced, "Really? Last I check Wu; it was you who decided to betray our trust and friendship for some silly power trip like this… Garmadon stayed by us…" Wu looked even angrier after that was brought up.

"And there is one good thing about you coming here… brother…" Wu raised an eyebrow at the remark of his sibling, "I can cut your physical body now…"

Wu snorted at that and drew his own sword, swinging it around nonchalantly. "Well then… it looks like we have ourselves a score that still needs to be settled… don't we?"

The two brothers charged first.

* * *

Ronin looked over at Jay who was asleep in the copilot's seat. Kai was on their tail and he knew that Jay was even more scared than what he showed back there in the pawn shop. "Hang in there kid… I promised my sis I wouldn't let Kai or Wu get ya… or any of those other brats that were your so called friends…"

He looked down, knowing Jay couldn't hear this. He was a lot nicer than what he would often show people. "I know what it's like to be you're position… nowhere to go… enemies on all sides… war was an ugly time for me… I needed to survive… I didn't want to do it honestly like my sister and her friends… so I went to the highest bidder… and I paid for it instead…"

The older man held his hand to the eye patch he always wore. He was pretty certain no one wanted to see the spot where his eye was gouged out. "It was an ugly day when I realized that I was just making one bad choice after another…" he looked down. "Let's just say I got involved with… literally _all_ the wrong people…"

* * *

_"__Ronin!" The owner of the named turned when he saw the second brunette run to him, anger in her bright green eyes, "Where are you going!? I thought you were on our side!"_

_"__Just because I gave you some info doesn't mean I'm on your side! You paid for it even! I don't have loyaty to you… I'm a freelancer now, remember?" he laughed. "In fact, Chen just bought a nice little juicy bite of info I dug up recently… that his best student is really an agent and spy for you guys!"_

_Misako covered her mouth; she knew who he meant naturally. "Ronin! Don't do this please…" she begged him. "Don't do this… he… that spy is…"_

_He knew what she was going to say, and he laughed at her fear, "Ooh boohoo, your boyfriend never should have stuck his neck out and took the job if he didn't wanna get caught by someone like me! Seeya later sis!" he started running towards his ship. _

_Misako clenched her teeth and stomped a foot to the ground, a wall of earth popping up in time for the older sibling to run face first into it. "You aren't going anywhere!" she shouted. "I won't let you get him killed by Chen… not Garmadon…" she shook her head. _

_"__Unless you wanna trade for some other dirty secret of the masters that Chen could use…" Ronin held his hands behind his back with a sly smirk. Always the business man as she would call him when they were kids, making deals with people, blackmail was his specialty._

_"__You bastard…" She breathed. He didn't care who got hurt, he just wanted to get paid. _

_"__What will it be Mimi? You're boyfriend or something way more promising than that?"_

_"…" __she looked away, sniffing, not believing she was in such a position, "Fine… you win… I'll give you something else to trade with him…" she lowered her weapon, "We have a base… a secret one near Ouroboris… a little desert outpost that looks like a rundown shack along the road… we have two masters there… trying to sneak in and take out some of the Serpentine generals tonight… are you happy now you monster?!" _

_Ronin laughed, "That'll do just fine!" he pinched her cheek and ran off to his ship again. _

_Misako watched him leave, a bit of a smirk on her face as she pulled out a walkie talkie, "he took it… Chen will send an army I'm sure of it… Garmadon is still safe… and my brother is dealt with hopefully for good…" she trailed off. A part of her felt guilty if he was killed because of this plan… it had to be done though, he was no ally anymore and they needed this war to be won._

_"__Excellent work… come back home now, you did good…" Misako was silent still. "Mimi?"_

_"__I'm fine…" she answered the master of ice. _

_"__You care about him still… don't you…?"_

_"__He made his choice Tanaka… I care more about protecting Garmadon than I do my no good brother…" she looked down. "I'm just grateful he can't see into my head… I learned to deal with that years ago…"_

* * *

_Ronin smirked when he was invited into Chen's dojo and was shown a bag of money, "Alright, this is twenty gold pieces… so this better be good… you have some steep costs my friend…" Chen jabbed a finger at Ronin. "Out with it… what do you have for me that I agreed to pay you so much!?" _

_Ronin looked to Garmadon who blinked; he knew something about him for sure. "Outpost in the desert, got some masters there lying in wait for nightfall tonight to take out Arcturus… two to be exact," he kicked his feet up on the table, taking the money, "Well… guess I should be off in a min-"_

_"__Why… don't you stay a while?" Garmadon slowly asked. _

_Chen looked back at his older student, "Huh…" he looked back to Ronin who seemed to be in a hurry to leave. One thing you don't do; is stick around Chen's dojo, especially when making a trade like this, the man was clinically insane. "Yea… why are you in such a rush? I mean… if what you say is from a reliable source; then stick around for the results!"_

* * *

"Boy was that the biggest mistake I ever made…" Ronin shook his head. "For one… I never trusted my little sis again after that… but I don't blame her… she would do anything to protect that man… even get me mutilated by Chen's right hand man…"

Jay turned in his sleep and the bounty hunter smiled a bit. Jay was a cute kid alright, when he wasn't annoying the crap out of him he meant.

* * *

_Ronin's knee bounced nervously; waiting to hear the result of the raid, it was getting dark out and he was not happy about it though… "Something was up with her… I couldn't get into her head… but… there was something there…" Another skill he had was without the mind abilities, he could read people's faces and body language quite well… and something seemed off in his little sister when she gave him this info. He naturally disregarded it so he wouldn't get a face full of rock and no cash._

_"__Troops! EVERYWHERE! We're outmanned! This wasn't some rinky dink outpost! This was a whole underground system! There are at least ten masters here! And boy are they strong ones!"_

_The feed cut out and Chen slowly turned to Ronin who sheepishly smiled, "Uh… I better go-!" he was caught by the back of the robe. H e turned to see young Clouse there, raising one of his golden cat claws with a strange smirk on his face._

_"__Oh, you're in for it now you scumbag…" he quietly told him._

_"__I don't like being swindled… Ronin…" Chen slowly said, getting up to his feet and swiping the gold. "You just cost me a lot of men and as well as a better seat with the Serpentine… what am I going to tell them all now? I just lost so many soldiers I spent months amassing to one false piece of info… one that you gave me…"_

_"__My sister…" Ronin coughed when the younger Clouse grabbed his throat more, lightly digging the battle claws into his neck. "She… she lied… she tricked me!" he looked at Garmadon. "And you knew that was a lie! Didn't you!? You double agent! Go on! Tell them that you really are loyal to the masters! You're not some renegade bad boy! You're a scheming… genius!"_

_Chen was ignoring what the bounty hunter was raving about, he lied once, why wouldn't this be a lie too? "Clouse… do what you want to him… don't kill him… just teach him what happens when you lie to me for money…"_

_"__With pleasure master…" he smirked a bit more, glancing back to the green eyed man who was squirming around, afraid of him. "Come on scum… you hear what he said… we're gonna play a game…"_

_"__NO! NOOO!" _

* * *

"Clouse carved my eye right out of its socket with those… horrible cat claws he liked to always use… I kid you not; main reason why I don't like cats…" he sighed tiredly. "That's when I stopped getting personally involved like that war… if my sister was involved, I knew I couldn't trust anything she said, she had a strong mind… one I could not read… not like the others… it was hard to tell when she was being honest or lying and she used that to her advantage…"

He let out another, exhausted sigh when he felt his eyelid grow heavy, "You're at least lucky there are still people out there willing to help you and give you a second chance… don't be like me and keep on running Jay… because you'll always be running if you start… and you'll soon find yourself with no friends or family…"

* * *

Scraping metal swords was always a hideous sound of war. A battle of brothers once more that started years ago on that September night. Garmadon almost lost his life, he didn't want to come close to that ever again, but here he was nonetheless.

"You've gotten stronger Wu…" he flashed a smirk, "I'm impressed… you finally decided to take your training seriously…"

"And you've gotten weaker than I remember!" Wu hissed, looking up, "Is that gray I see brother? You're not even fifty yet… are you? My how badly you're aging…"

"Misako seems to like it actually…" he taunted a bit. "She stopped me from dying it even…" he pushed him back, seeing the others were carefully starting to surround the dark lord.

Wu chuckled, "I was one of you for a time… I think I know you're stupid little tricks…" he backed off a bit, spying the others around him. "The best part? I know all you're weaknesses you idiot!" he smacked the blunt of his sword to Garmadon's knee right where the cartilage was damaged after all those years.

"AGH!" the old bit his tongue. "That also means I know some of yours too!" he tackled the other brother, squeezing his shoulder, "I wonder if this still hurts too!" he smirked, gripping it tighter than any sword her carried.

Wu was trying not to wince and pushed back, the two rolling around on the ground like ten year olds solving a dispute over something trivial. "I will win!" he shouted angrily. "I will never let you once friends get in my way of killing that brat!"

Misako had had enough and took the chance when her husband kicked his younger brother off of him, sending him flat on his back, "That _brat_ is my son!" she grabbed her scythe and raised it high, knowing the blade was perfectly lined up with the evil one's head.

Wu rolled over quickly as soon as she brought it down though. It hit the stone pavement and Karloff took the next turn trying to hit him with his metal gauntlets. "He too fast!" he growled.

"He's pulling that trick Raven did… watch out," Neuro noticed the lone shadow traveling along the ground until her grabbed at Misako, changing back into physical form, grabbing at her throat.

"It's so funny how you never once considered Garmadon traitor for selling out for two years as a spy to Chen… yet here I am… the one who betrayed you all…" he squeezed more, "But I think I'm okay with that idea now…" Misako gasped out a breath, she was actually scared now. "Wanna know a little secret Mimi?"

She clenched her teeth; hands trying to pry his own off her throat. The others stood still, afraid to move for fear of what he would do to her, "Do you remember… Ronin was going to sell some… embarrassing info about your attempts to spy on Chen?"

"How did you know about that?" Tanaka quietly asked, a hand on Garmadon's shoulder.

Wu laughed and looked back to Misako, "Well now… I knew a lot of things… who do you think sold him the information about Garmadon's spy work?"

Misako's eyes widened.

**Well... an awesome way to begin the New Year... feel sick to your stomach... hah... anyways... oh look; cliffhanger! Hopefully I'll get back on track with this one again and do every Friday (yea it's 1:07 am but it's still Friday lol...) **

**Just... a quick message to anybody, especially anon/guest reviews I can't directly message... please stop giving me reviews saying what I should do... like... I have this story kind of mapped out the rest of the way... I don't want any input unless I ask for opinions. Please save reviewing for actual reviews and not a constantly growing list of ideas that I should be doing... thank you, that is is all...**

**With that said... thanks for reading the update to this. Had in the works for the past week now... this one kind of wrote itself tbh... well... Happy New Year and I hope it's a good one!**

**~Mar**


	32. Chapter 32

Wu let out a loud laugh, "Yea… that's right Mimi… it was me this whole time who gave Ronin that information… but I knew what you were planning when you fed Ronin the false info… ruining my plans to finally off my brother and no one would ever suspect it was me who was behind it! You may had kept that move a secret from the others… but I always find out when someone's doing something behind my back…"

Misako growled at him, there was no other choice left to get out of the choke hold. The master of earth bit down on his hand when he wasn't paying attention to her. Wu jerked his arm away and Misako wrenched herself free from his tight grip. "You really are a monster…" she panted as her windpipe was opening again. She looked back to her husband.

Garmadon raised his sword again, "And I thought you were my brother for a time… you never were though… were you?" his heart ached when Wu nodded, a smug grin on his blackened face. "All you see me as is your enemy since we were young… so I guess I better start seeing you as one too…"

"You know… why would I ever want to be related to you!? I wanted you dead since we were so young… the war turned out to be the perfect excuse… no one would dare question me… I would had come out looking like the hero… and the great Captain Garmadon would be dead, fallen in battle… and everyone would have known how you and father conspired to get us all killed!"

"I did not like father just as much as you… but do not forget Wu… you were still his favorite… his baby who he coddled and sheltered from the reality of the world… who fed you lies about how amazing things were in store for you… and where did that leave me!? Because of him I had to betray you all by giving up certain secrets… I had to make the sacrifice! I always did!" he started getting more choked up, "It was always me who had to keep my trap shut and do as I was told while he let you roam free, thinking you could do whatever you pleased because father would make up the dumbest excuses for you! I was forced to stay here against my will! I never wanted to take his place!"

The others watched the sensei shout at the younger sibling who rolled his eyes, "Yes… well… the world turned its back on me a very long time ago… save me the tears because what you have gone through will never be like what I had to face! I got nothing in return for all the effort I gave! I was left in the shadows! You even got the woman I loved! I will never forgive you for coming between us!"

"I never loved you!" she hissed at him. "You do nothing but blame us for this! You still had a conscience Wu! You chose this!"

"Watch it…" Griffin raised his hands in defense, "He's gonna try something…"

Wu rotated his wrist, sword moving along with it in his tight grasp as they retorted, "Pathetic… I'm here for two of my boys… and I want the child… I am done with these ridiculous games that we have been playing for six years!"

"LIKE HELL!" the father of the green ninja shouted, "You have the nerve to come into my home… and take one of the only good things that is in my life right now? All because you couldn't have your stupid way!? You are nothing but a boy who so irresponsibly would think you were owed something for existing!"

"… Yea pretty much… you nailed it I think…" Wu bluntly said, quickly managing to block his sibling's quick swing. "Oh ho! Wow, you almost had me that time! You really are getting slower… shame…" Wu cracked his neck, "Come on everyone… don't be shy… I don't have all night to do this you know… let's just get this all over with…"

Karloff, Misako, Neuro, Griffin, and Tanaka charged to aid their friend.

* * *

Lloyd was clinging to his sisters who desperately tried to calm him down. "It is okay…" Pixal sat on her knees in the back training room, holding a hand to his smaller head, "Everything shall turn out just fine… we all promise you brother…"

Nya hugged him close; closing her eyes, nothing they were doing seemed to be working. They brought him some of his toys and stuffed animals in hopes of distracting him by playing with him while two kept guard at all times, but he knew that so many things were wrong.

"Sky, Sel, check on the idiots down the hall, will ya? We got this for now…"

"Aye aye," the red head nodded and gestured to Seliel to follow her. Once they unlocked the door the two peered into the room and saw the boys just as they left them earlier that day. "Come on… they're fine… it's not like they can cut through that so easily… you'd need a saw to break that twine!" the amber ninja rolled her eyes and shut the door once more.

"We need to make sure we're ready if Sensei Garmadon needs us to help him… those two aren't going anywhere… they have to try and make it out of that room and the bonds first and that would probably take a while…"

Once the door clicked shut, Zane and Cole stood up, ropes dropping around their feet. "So… your wrist has a buzz saw mode… cool… I'll have to remember that for future reference when we're in a jam again…" he dusted off his black robes and yawned, "Now let's go grab the scythe and shurakins and we can blow this place with Wu… I'm starting to get hungry and it's Halloween…" the thirteen year old in black pulled his ninja mask over his head and broke the lock on the door.

* * *

The six year old Lloyd was still far from settling down as he cried for his mom and dad to come for him, though they were very busy at the moment. "Come on kiddo…" Seliel sighed with the others as she plopped down in front of him, pulling Lloyd into her arms. Normally it would be an easier task to calm him down and look after him… now that they needed him to be quiet, he couldn't.

Pixal flinched, "Someone is coming…"

The four dropped everything and got in front of Lloyd, pulling their weapons out and striking battle ready positions, it was do or die time and they were prepared for anything. They couldn't think about what happened to their teachers and friends outside, but they were the last line of defense! They had to do something!

"Check in here, I think they might have our weapons in… oh… so this is where you guys were hanging out while the adults are fighting…" Cole had stuck his head in and saw there were some games and other things for Lloyd. "Heh… where the babies are put while the grownups talk I guess!"

Though the four were relieved it was not Wu who was coming for them, Seliel did manage to throw a punch in the earth assassin's nose not long after his wise crack; he fell back, stunned completely before the pain settled in, "HOLY CRAP I'M BLEEDING!"

Seliel shook her hand out and sighed, "Get lost… go on and run back to him… we won't stop you… you mindlessly idiots…"

"You're just as mindless as we are and you know it… following whatever your sensei says… we are not so different…" Zane spoke up. It wasn't a lie or anything; it was pretty true as well. "We just have different ideals than you…"

"Hah!" Nya scoffed, "You're ideals are killing an innocent kid like this and taking over a world unjustly… you think that's fair? You hurt one of your own and drove him away! We follow Sensei Garmadon's orders because he cared for us and took us all in to learn in his ways and we continue to follow out of pure loyalty, not fear!"

"We had to do something to Jay!" Cole was pinching his bleeding nose, "Wu says we can't disobey! Jay did… those were the terms we all agreed to! Wu isn't the only one who punishes… he gets us to treat him more differently even… and if we don't then we get smacked around too!"

Seliel stared at them, "Are you kidding me? You are a team… how can you ever act like one unless you stand up and stick together?! Where is the trust one another?!"

"We trust one another to not obey… you're on your own once you do that…" Cole pointed to the pink haired girl.

"And you wanna know what happens when we mess up something!?" Skylar sneered, "We get treated like human beings instead of slaves and are told that all we need is practice and patience and we'll get it soon! Not like some drones who are supposed to get everything perfect all the time! Our master cares about us like we are his own children! And I would rather die before I would serve Wu!"

"You won't get the scythe or the shurakins… we can't let Wu get the last two weapons he needs to escape his domain permanently…" Pixal pulled out a pair of sais from inside her long sleeves. "This will all end right here and now for you two…"

Cole and Zane didn't have any weapons on them, so they raised their fists and hoped that Spinjitsu would be enough to help them out here.

* * *

Wu kept his eyes on Griffin as the young master of speed zipped around him quickly, defending from any attempted hits. Neuro and Tanaka on his left and right; Garmadon and Karloff at the front, all of their arms raised; knowing he would strike at any time. Wu kept his shadow minions around him in the case of needing a quick defense but it could do little good against all these masters at the same time.

The younger dark lord stopped his train of thought and realized who was missing from the group in front of him. Before he could turn around, Misako delivered a high kick to the back of his head, knocking the helmet off. He almost fell to the ground but he managed to elbow the woman when she came up again.

"We could have had everything my love…" he pulled his sword again, "Sorry to say that it looks like I have no more use for you if that's how you feel about me…"

Misako squeezed her eyes shut, ready to feel the pain she knew was coming.

A loud clank was heard, followed by a clatter of a sword. The masters looked over to the porch of the monastery to see Nya standing there, slowly coming out of her throwing position, two more kunai between her knuckles. "Don't… you dare hurt my family…"

"Cute… you have a body guard…" Wu teased her, holding his hand which had a new cut on it.

"I am the master of water… and you took my brother from me and twisted him into something I don't even know anymore… now you try to kill my new one…" she squeezed her hands into fists, brown eyes water. "I'm not losing another sibling!"

"What about Cole and Zane though? Are you watching them still?!" Tanaka shouted with growing concern.

Nya smirked wider, wiping her eyes, "Seliel and Skylar are having some fun with them… I guess you could say that their… _entertaining_ Lloyd together while Pixal keeps watch…"

* * *

"SAY MY NAME! SAY IT PUNKS!" Seliel screamed, ready to throw another punch should they shout something mean at her, this time with a pair of gloves that had spikes on the knuckles. "I WANNA BE RESPECTED ONCE AND FOR ALL BY YOU DWEEBS!"

"SELIEL THE ALMIGHTY PHANTOM NINJA!" Cole screamed a couple of times… as Skylar tied him up again, tighter by the look of things. The orange clothed ninja had also tied Zane up and wrapped duct tape on his wrists to keep from using the buzz saw again as well as a strip over his mouth.

"GOOD!" Seliel laughed loudly, Lloyd started to laugh and clap his hands with her, "Hey look. We cheered him up!"

* * *

Wu stared in disbelief at the scene that was just described to him by the young water ninja. "Two of my best were taken down by a bunch of little girls!?"

"HEY!" Nya snapped, "We're like… the same age dude… why do you think we're so little?" she lowered her hands, feeling a bit offended by that.

The dark lord seemed to be getting tired of this. "That's it… I've had it playing games with you fools! I would hope to make a distraction while they escaped… but I have a world to conquer and I can't be waiting all night here for them to keep screwing this up!" he slipped into his shadow form again and darted inside the monastery.

Garmadon started running, "Griffin! Someone, get ahead and stop him!" he shouted, heart beginning to race because Lloyd was inside along with the other girls, not aware of what was going on outside.

Karloff helped Misako to her feet before heading inside with the others. "Thanks…" she leaned against the metal master, holding a hand to her head because it hurt from hit Wu landed on her. "Come on…" they started walking faster.

The little party in the back of the house was over when Griffin zipped in, "Okay kiddos… fight's coming in here," he said as Wu rematerialized again. "Sorry grouch… you're not touching anyone or getting those weapons! You're surrounded and there's nothing you can do about it".

"Oh really…?" Wu glanced at Zane and Cole and smirked. "Zane… you know what to do…"

The blonde slowly sat up more, though his wrists were taped together, he managed to clap his hands together. A white, cold mist exploded in the air, clouding everyone's vision. The girls shouted for one of the masters and Cole and Zane fumbled around trying to find the weapons and get out with Wu after he and Cole were cut loose while the others were blinded.

When the icy fog cleared… the ninja were alone.

Garmadon scooped Lloyd into his arms, kissing him several times as the boy started crying again, "Hey buddy… we got you…" Misako came in next and smiled, seeing he was just fine. "He's gone… he's got the weapons… but he's gone…"

* * *

Kai had seen the direction Ronin was heading with Jay, it would take a while, but he could manage. "Man… didn't Wu say that this thing could turn into a vehicle or something?" he looked at the golden object, shaking it a bit as he ran. "Damn it! Come on!" he shouted at it.

Suddenly, the weapon glowed and Kai found himself seated on a motor bike. The red ninja smirked, chuckling to himself, "Now this is way more like it… I'll catch up to them faster now…" he revved the engine and the boy took off to chase Wu's target. "I'm gonna get you Jay… you aren't safe from me anymore!"

"Oh look, you got it to work after all…" Kai swerved the bike and yelped in surprise when he heard the voice of Wu coming out of nowhere, "It's going to be dawn in a few hours… Lloyd is still alive, but I got the other two back!" Kai realized his masters' shadow was right next to him on the bike. "Get Jay and I can escape this place in no time and we can create the mega weapon with your golden weapons!"

"Gotcha master… I won't come back until I can get him… hopefully they'll land soon… unless they see me following them…" Kai looked up at the faint lights on the small ship that traveled over head as fast it probably could go.

"Just remember… every bird needs to land sometime…" the dark lord disappeared. "You'll get them… all I need is Jay to hold the nun chucks in the Underworld and use his lightning powers… and I don't care how we'll get him to do it! After that I don't even need him anymore so you can do whatever you want to him!"

Kai sped the bike up more, wind whipping through his dark brown hair as his dark master returned to the Underworld to wait for him with the others.

* * *

Ronin sighed when he saw the lights from the sword of fire bike less than half a mile behind him on the ground, it had been more than two hours since he saw Kai was close on their tail and there seemed to be no hope in losing him long enough to land somewhere he couldn't see. "Damn it!" he growled, "Why is that kid so persistent!?"

"Where are we going anyways?" Jay mumbled, half asleep. "I'm getting hungry…" he complained.

The mercenary rolled his eyes tiredly, he wished he didn't have to deal with this now, he was a cut throat swindler and thief; he was no babysitter or anyone's nanny!

"Listen kid… just… jeez… go check the bag in the back seat for something… okay? And… we'll land soon… I promise…" he looked at the monitor, worried Kai was a little too fixed on getting to them, he just had to remember, Ninjago was a big place. "He's not gonna find us".

**Kay, yea, I'd say we're about half way there... the bulk of set up is done... now who's ready for the shit to get real really soon?! All we need now is for Jay to... well get captured maybe? *w***

**My favorite part? the cut away when Seliel decides she's better than Cole and is a maniac twelve year old girl who went crazy with power. 10/10, greatest scene I have ever written in the history of fan fiction XD Can't you tell I love that ship so much? XD**

**Thanks for reading, as usual guys! I hope to bust out another chapter by next week! Later!**

**~Mar**


	33. Chapter 33

With the fuel gage reading empty, Ronin had to put the ship down before they would fall out of the sky and have absolutely no hope of getting away from Wu's little psychotic minion who was hunting them like they were both wild animals. He stopped paying attention an hour or so ago and had no idea where Kai actually was, but he knew they would run into him very soon if they didn't refuel Rex and start off again.

Luckily for them, he landed not far from Astor City so he dragged the half asleep Jay from his ship, shaking him a bit to try and wake him up faster, "Come on!" he growled, "I'm not carrying you all the way there… we gotta refuel my ship and get out of here within the next hour!" he snapped, patting the boy's freckled cheek angrily. "You want Kai to get you or what!?"

The boy in blue woke up faster at the mention of that and started walking faster with his new guardian. "Right…" he yawned, wiping his eyes, looking over his shoulder as the ship grew smaller as they made distance between them, "I hope Kai won't be there waiting for us when we come back though…" he pulled on his shirt when he felt his stomach growl again.

"Eh," Ronin shrugged, spinning his keys around his finger, "not like he can get in… and I can fire off the guns with this button right here should he be there when we get back…" he didn't seem too worried so Jay figured that he should relax more too, "Now let's move it if you wanna get something to eat too…" he stretched his arms over his head, "Ugh… I'm too old for this… I should have just kept my head down…" he mumbled.

Jay looked back up at him, smiling a bit because he knew that the mercenary appeared to act like he didn't care in the slightest. He looked down, thinking about his parents, _"Maybe once they aren't hunting me… I'll go back… I wouldn't want them put in danger anyways if I did…"_ he kicked a rock as he stepped along the dirt path to the city.

* * *

The four girls sat around their room, looking at one another in dead silence until Nya broke it, "Lloyd could have died today guys…" she pulled at her pajama pants.

"So? What else is new?" Skylar was on her stomach on her own bed, leaning on her elbows, reading a book. "How many times has this happened already? Before and after we met them?"

"Misako's having a breakdown in her room… she won't let go of Lloyd… and showing your concern would be wise… I know you care about him too like us… stop acting like you weren't scared in the slightest at the sight of Wu," Seliel stood up, looking at the amber ninja who shrugged a bit and looked away, knowing she was right. "What we need to do is to make sure he remains safe… and Wu stays in the Underworld with those idiots he calls apprentices…"

"That would require ensuring that Jay and Ronin get away from Kai before it is too late and he escapes to only grow stronger…" Pixal crossed her legs, tapping her finger on the floor where she was seated. "But we must trust Misako's brother to do the right thing and protect Jay at all costs…"

The other three looked at one another, "Oooor…" Skylar smirked a bit, "We just handle things ourselves like good ninja… we managed to take down two of the strongest guys on the team and tie them up… right?" the others knew where she was going with this, "Well… all four of us taking down Kai shouldn't be that hard… we got powers too!" she rolled onto her back, looking up at the ceiling, letting the other debate about it.

Nya looked down, feeling bad about this idea from the moment she saw Skylar's smirk, "Garmadon has been too good to us Sky… it… it wouldn't be right to go behind his back and do this without him like this… whether we would be helping or not…"

Seliel bit her lip, playing around with possibilities, "Yea… but… he'll never go after Kai himself… you know he can't and he won't… he knows that he can't protect Lloyd himself… so that's why he needs us… not even Misako is enough to help him… he needs us here… as much as I would like to do this… I think staying is best…"

Pixal was keeping silent in all of this, running the odds of such a mission in her head, it wasn't bad numbers, but they still had enough of a bad chance. Skylar spoke up again, "Listen you two, I met that brat before and I say we kick his stupid ass!" she growled. "Come on Nya! You even said he's no brother of yours because of what he's done! So what's keeping you from doing this? Let's just go after him and help that dingbat Jay out! Don't you want to get some payback while helping your boyfriend?"

Nya perked up, face turning red, "SHUT UP! HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" she growled, ready to jump on the other girl to give her a nice smack to the head like what she probably deserved. "Jeez, I just hate it when people are mistreated…" she folded her arms, growing silent again.

The water ninja looked down, nodding a bit, she still loved her brother and wanted him to come home and for things to be better, but she also was furious of what he was trying to do and how he turned dark so fast. Seliel looked at her, raising an eyebrow, hoping she wasn't going to say what she thought she was going to say.

"Sure… let's do it…" she looked back up, answering the original question.

"YES!" Skylar pumped her fist up and bounced off her bed to change into her ninja robes once more, grabbing her bag as well. "Come on Pix! Let's go!" she pulled the robot to her feet.

"We have a forty percent chance of surviving though… this is most unwise! Especially if Garmadon finds out we snuck out!" she squeaked.

"Who cares! Come on! Before sensei comes back out and sees us leaving and tries to stop us!" the darker skinned girl laughed excitedly.

* * *

Misako was sitting on her bed, hugging Lloyd even more tightly, still shaking and doing her best not to cry. "He came so close… he got so close to him this time Garmadon… closer than when he was a baby…" she kissed his cheek again as the toddler started falling asleep in her arms. "I can't keep doing this… he'll just keep coming back again and again, getting stronger than us and soon it won't matter how many of us there are… we don't have time to wait for him to grow up and master his powers… we have to do something about this now!"

The sensei let out a sigh, everyone else was asleep right now and he wanted to be too, but he couldn't possibly get rest with his wife all manic and scared like this. "It's okay… we'll figure something out, don't worry, Lloyd will be just fine… as long as you don't suffocate him first," he kissed her cheek, hugging them both, his wife loosening her hold just a bit, "Maybe we'll just… have to move out again for a while… maybe we could stay in Birchwood and stay with Crevan… I'm sure Seliel will like that a lot if went for a bit…"

"Maybe… but he'll catch on that we're there eventually… you know he always sends those boys out to spy… they'll find us just like the first time…" Misako looked down.

"And then we can move again to Yosho with Tanaka and stay there for a while too…"

"I don't want to keep moving… I wanna be in peace…" Misako rested her head on Lloyd's. "Why did I have to give birth to a savior?" she asked her husband, "Why couldn't we just have a normal baby… why couldn't we just travel the world like what we planned since we were little? …not having to worry about stopping villains and… we wouldn't have had to fight in the horrible war and your father wouldn't have forced to you do anything and you wouldn't have gotten hurt… and-"

"I know… I think the same thing every waking moment of my life… but I am at least grateful I still have you by my side…" he tried to get her to lie down and relax, but it was a slow process because once she was hooked on something, she could never stop thinking about it. "But we'll survive all of this… I promise… all of us will be okay and nothing bad will ever happen to Lloyd… okay?"

"Yea… sure… okay…" Misako closed her eyes, still cuddling with her sleeping son who snuggled up closer to her in his sleep.

"Good…" Garmadon smiled before getting back up again, hoping that the girls would be asleep as well, they needed it after their very eventful night. He peeked through the door and froze, they weren't in their beds. He quickly checked the weapons room in the back, nowhere. "Nya?" he swallowed. "Sel? Sky?" he ran a hand through his dark hair, "Pixal?"

They were nowhere to be seen, he checked every room they had twice, he even checked outside… but that's when he saw the gates were unlatched, banging open and closed in the breeze.

"Oh no…" he paled, knowing where they went now.

* * *

"Do we even know where we're going?" Seliel puffed, annoyed that they all just jumped into this without planning ahead beyond what weapons they wanted to bring. "Pixal, do you even know where that ship was headed for? We're kind of going in blind and I would like to have some form of a plan!"

"Well, I do know they would head northwest of Stiix if that is where he was staying when Kai found him… and judging by how much fuel lasts, depending on the average vehicle double that I suppose for a ship that size… that would land them both somewhere… around Astor City… as far as main cities on the map goes I mean… I believe they would be in the general vicinity," Pixal calculated.

"Astor City it is!" Skylar laughed, "Come on! Let's make it there before Kai can!"

"He has a huge head start on us though!" Seliel growled. "It'll take us hours on foot!"

Nya bit her lip, running faster to try and somehow make it in time until it hit her. "Hey…" she skidded to a halt, the other three as well when they saw she had an idea, "Skylar, how much money you got in your bag?" she turned to the orange clothed one.

"Ugh, why?" she frowned, digging through.

"Because I know there's a bike shop around here for travelers… we're just on the border of Ignacia Valley… it'd be better than running all the way there… we could save a few hours… my dad would take me for bike rides around here when I was little…"

"You're all crazy… we never should have gone out in the first place… maybe if we head back we'll go to the market and just tell sensei that we went shopping or something and he'll leave us be and everything will be fine…" Seliel followed the younger girl through the trees to look for a faster means of transportation.

They were ignoring her again and she pouted, "No one ever listened to me…" she shook her head.

* * *

Jay helped drag a second container of fuel back to the ship. Ronin was of course in a bit of a rush but he couldn't move any faster and the older man was already carrying two huge jugs of the fuel. "Come on kid, almost there…" he assured. "Then we can head up north more and ol firebutt will have a hard time getting around if he catches frostbite!" he laughed.

"Heh… yep…" he looked ahead and saw no one was waiting for them so the two started refueling Red as quickly as possible. "All we have to do is keeping heading north…" he mumbled, trying to believe that as well… but he knew Kai better than Ronin did, and he would do anything to impress Wu or to make him happy, it was how he got to be his number two after all.

The red head jumped when he heard rustling in the bushes, Ronin looked as well, just to see if it was trouble. "Come on kid… stop wasting our time… you know we have to do this fast and you can't be jumping at the wind or squirrels every ten seconds," he pushed him in the side of the head playfully, chuckling.

"Something… doesn't feel right though Ronin…" he swallowed, staring into the forest, starting to shake. Ronin looked back down, frowning and looking back again, starting to untie the lid to the gas jug, hurrying along more now for Jay's sake.

* * *

"What do you mean the girls are gone?! I was keeping watch the whole time! Sleep is for the weak!" Griffin snapped. "Maybe they're just in their rooms hiding in Seliel's bunk!"

Garmadon bent over so he could see eye to eye with the younger master better, "Okay… then how come the master of speed couldn't stop them from getting away!? You're just as strong as they are! That and they like and trust you; you could have talked them out of it!"

Neuro rolled his pale eyes, "What he's failing to tell you is that he is weal because fell asleep and simply will not admit to it…" Griffin shot him an angry look.

The sensei ran his hands through his hair more, "I need to find them… those four could be anywhere by now… and they're gonna get hurt because they're not ready yet! The oldest one is what!? Thirteen now!? Hopefully Sel will keep them all together and safe while I go and look for them…" he grabbed his jacket and staff when he was stopped.

"You cannot possibly imagine going out right now… it's still early and you look exhausted… you haven't even slept yet!" Tanaka gave him a stern look. "And going by yourself no less…" he shook his head more, "Not to mention you can't just leave without telling Misako about this!"

"That's just it, if I tell her the girls took off, she'll go into panic mode again and she already cried once today, I am not putting her through that again! I'm leaving, looking after my family while I'm gone…" Garmadon snapped back and slid the doors open so he could leave.

"Wait!" Neuro followed after him, "I'll come too… you might need an extra hand should you get in a fight with Kai…" he insisted. Garmadon raised an eyebrow and sighed, nodding his head over to follow him. "Someone must watch your back… we're all we have right now…"

"Heh, remember back when Chen was our biggest problem to face?" Garmadon chuckled as they walked down the mountain to go look for the girls. "I would take that loon any day over this…"

The master of the mind nodded along, "How can anyone forget that madman… at least his daughter's sensible… or… more sensible to know when she's on the wrong side… I still can't believe what Wu said last night though… about the information going around during the war…"

"I'm not surprised by his antics anymore… of course he would be the one out to get me since day one… I should have realized it…" Garmadon lowered his head. "Let's go, I'm sure they had quite a head start now… I regret bringing them into this… I really do…"

"Trust them to be prepared instead of worrying that they will be found dead… you trained them… they'll come back to you if you believe in them to be strong… that's probably what they want you to think of them as you know…" Neuro reasoned. "This is also about having faith in yourself that you are a good teacher…"

Garmadon looked at his feet silently, he was probably right… like usual. Leave it to Neuro to set his head back on right when he was alone and worrying in a situation like this.

* * *

Ronin kicked the ship angrily, "DAMN MACHINE!" he threw the wrench down, "Try starting her up again!" he shouted at Jay who was inside the vehicle when the engine started smoking. "AGH! OF COURSE NOW YOU DO THIS! I JUST CHANGED YOUR OIL!"

Jay covered his face, he never shook the feeling that something… or worse yet, someone, was watching specifically him right now, waiting for the right moment to leap from the bushes and drag him back to the Underworld where he never would belong.

The lightning ninja turned the ship on again… it was puffing, but working nonetheless. Ronin looked grateful and Jay was relieved as he got out to help his newest friend close everything up and went to get inside when he felt someone grab him from behind as he climbed back in.

"Look at that… I caught a little, lost Blue Jay…"

All the color drained from Jay's face.

**Kay so, this is the main big project right now I'm working on the most and am gonna try and get ahead on so I can attempt to do two chapters a week for you guys. This also means possible further hiatus for BK&amp;WQ heh... I'm working on it, I'm outlining the rest of the story just so writing it will go even faster so I won't lose any thoughts about what I wanted to do with it because unlike Falling Inside the Black, I actually had a full on plan hah. **

**So ye, sorry this was on hiatus but please, for the love of God, if I skip an update or two, it's because I have the flu or something rn or I just don't have time, I do not like questions about when the next update is or if I'm ever going to update because then I feel pressured even more.**

**With that... thank you so much for reading and I apologize for the month long break I had to take on this, see you here hopefully at the end of the week.**

**~Mar**


	34. Chapter 34

Jay felt numb, he wanted to cry, but he somehow couldn't, he just stood there, trembling in the other's grip. Ronin looked over his shoulder after he heard that quiet little remark, his eyes were wide; it looked like Jay was right when he said that he knew something was watching them from the bushes, he regretted doubting him right about now.

He grabbed his glaive from his belt and flung it at the other boy who ducked even faster, pulling Jay back from the first step of the ship, holding him to the ground while he struggled to fight back. "Watch it!" he snipped at the older man, "You almost took my head off!" he gave a wiry smirk, knowing he was faster than the man's arm was.

"That's the idea kiddo," the bounty hunter gave a cocky smile back and caught the glaive that came back around to him, poising to let it fly again, "Don't think because I'm older than my stupid, 'all knowing and wise' brother in-law means I'm not a way better fighter than he is…"

"Well he looks way stronger than you regardless of any injuries or aging here…" Kai looked the man over, not very impressed with him, "Plus I'm sure you don't know Spinjitsu or was trained by basically a god… I fear that old man more than I would fear you…" he commented casually, still pinning Jay to the ground.

"HEY! Come on! Cut me some slack will you!? I at least haven't been caught by police or anything! I have to fight off gangs and stuff! I'm just as strong as him!"

"No offense Ronin…" Jay lifted his head a little bit, "But… you still aren't that great of a fighter as you like to think… he threw a bucket at a guy and ran while he was distracted… you can just move a bit faster than him, but I'm still more scared of Sensei Garmadon too… he has the angry disposition to back it up if you piss him off… you… well… don't…" Kai nodded in agreement with this, both temporarily forgetting why they were fighting to discuss this.

"Jay… not helping my case over here, I am this close to walking away and letting him kidnap you," Ronin pointed, annoyed that this conversation was still even continuing. He turned the conversation back though to the matter at hand; who was taking Jay. "So here's the trade I'm offering here Kai; you give me the blue jay back, I won't take your head off and let you go crawling back to Wu… deal?"

Kai laughed loudly, "Why would I make that deal when I know I could get away faster with him!?" he held his sword out in defense, "Come on Jay, time to go back to home sweet home in the fortress… Cole and Zane just got back last night with Master Wu… we're all excited for you to come back and help finish what we started! We need you so much!"

Jay squeezed his eyes shut as Kai tried to drag him back, "I DON'T WANNA!" he pretty much screamed, a burst of electricity blew from the hand that gripped Kai's shoulder, sending the other boy flying into the nearest tree, twitching a bit and completely shocked by this outburst... no pun intended. "I'm not going back so I can help you make that… tyrant… the lord over Ninjago so he can torture me and a lot of other people even more!"

The fire ninja grimaced as he stretched his muscles out, recovering from the attack, Ronin looked completely speechless that the kid had it in him to stand up like that for himself. "Okay then… we'll just have to do this the hard way I guess…" his golden sword ignited with red and orange flames. "You are weaponless Jay… and your powers aren't going to do anything against this baby when it's at full power…"

"What am I over here? Chopped liver?" Ronin snapped, feeling left out of this fight now. "I'm right here you know! Or did you just forget all about me because I don't have any super cool powers like you?! You probably won't be able to fight both of us off if I came at you too you know!"

The boy scoffed a bit, not even looking at the mercenary. "HA! You mean nothing too me… you're not an elemental master or anything special that would be a threat… you can't do a thing against me other that swing that stupid glaive around and hope I won't be able to dodge it!" Kai laughed more at this fact.

Ronin shook his head, holding his weapon up, "Thing is kiddo… Misako's my baby sis and she's an elemental master… though we got different ancestor's blood in us… by default you should always assume… I am one like her… I just haven't used in a really long time… How about we find out together what I can do, since you obviously have no idea what I was capable of… how do you think I got most of my secrets? Other people's weakness to squeal? I didn't have to get them to talk to win the fight…"

Kai's eyebrow went up at that. _"Wait… he looks much too confident now… Oh crap… that glaive he has is made of obsidian… he's one of them… that's why Wu said he made such a good dealer and always got away from everyone in the end…" _he took a step back, holding a hand to his head and the mercenary smirked, he had him scared alright.

* * *

"Ugh, are we there yet?" Skylar groaned to Pixal who was leading the four, legs starting to ache from pedaling for almost an hour now. "Any longer and I won't be able to stand and fight!"

"Almost… we're going to have to search the area of course to see if they're even here still," she reminded the amber ninja. The other three groaned now as well. "Hey, stop complaining, you didn't all have to come, we all opted to come and do this as a team!" she frowned at the other girls. "Now I say let's g-"

The four stopped when they heard a huge electric explosion, feeling a bit of a shock in the air that made their hair frizz a bit. Pixal shuddered from the electric wave.

Nya perked up more, eyes widening, "that must have been Jay!" he smiled even more and started off ahead of them now. "Come on you guys!" her smile faded though rather fast, "You gotta hold on a bit longer Jay… we're here to help you… even… even if I have to hurt you in the process to get him away from you Kai… I hope I don't have to… you're still my brother afterall…" she mumbled to herself.

* * *

Ronin's smirk got wider as he stepped closer, "Oh yea, you know it, I'm one of the famous mind readers kiddo," he chuckled a bit and then stopped to help Jay get to his feet, "How do you think I got so well known? Back in the war days, people like me were pretty damn popular… I can do a lot to you right now, give you a really bad headache… make you see a hallucination… and at the same time I can steal some of Wu's plans for my little sis from your memories… we may have fought… but the enemy of my enemy is my friend afterall…"

Kai glared angrily, eyes shifting to Jay who hid behind Ronin more, still holding his hand out to strike him if he got close.

"I also learned how to read faces without the use of my abilities… I don't need to read your mind to know you're thinking about slamming me in the face with some fire and drag Jay back to the Underworld with you…" he commented.

Almost as expected, Kai shot a huge arc of flames at the two of them, making them try to get back, away from him while Ronin held his hand out. "Wonder if I can use the psychic barrier again…" he mumbled. He looked back down at Jay, "Kay so after I lost my eye and kind of started dropping out of the business I stopped practicing… I know this is probably not the best time to experiment but-"

"PERFECT! I'm with an elemental master who was super tough and even smarter probably like, twenty years ago… and now he just forgot how to use all of his powers!" Jay threw his arms up into the air.

That's when four young girls jumped into the game as well, ditching the bikes and springing into action, weapons out and ready to attack the boy in the red and black gi. The moment was broken though when Skylar nearly collapsed, "Oh my gosh my legs feel like jelly! I told you guys!" she complained while Nya rolled her eyes and tried to pull her to her feet.

"I don't believe this…" Kai shook his head, "How did you find me here!? And this fast?!"

"Simple calculations, it was not all that hard to figure for me," Pixal tilted her head and smiled brightly, green eyes glowing bright, "I am an android after all!" she chirped, spreading both feet apart in a defensive position. "And I promise you right now that this will be an easy fight… for us anyways…"

Seliel smirked, looking at the reflection in her sword before glancing back at their enemy, "And I would trust her if I were you… she's normally right about these things…"

Kai shot more waves of bright, hot fire at the group that was slowly starting to surround him, as he did another one; Nya slammed water right back at him from what seemed to be thin air, surprising her older brother, "Guess we weren't alike as I once thought Kai… I really am more different than you… I'm not an evil little slave…" she held her position, both siblings frozen, looking at each other. "I never wanted to fight you… I loved you Kai…"

"Too little too late… you were the favorite and I hate that so much! I bet you still are the favorite!" he slammed his foot down, attack again head on. "Well now I'm Wu's favorite! And for once someone believes in me!" he laughed darkly, "which is why I have to bring Jay back so I don't let my master down…"

* * *

Garmadon leaned on his staff as they slowed down a bit in pace. "We have been walking around for hours on end… you still haven't picked anything up? No… signs of them anywhere? The bike tracks must belong to them and it just keeps going on…" he tired looked over to Neuro. "Still nothing?"

"Shh…" Neuro looked around now, "I… know we have another strong master around here…" he perked up, "And I think it's Ronin… it has to be…" He stopped and pointed to four ditched bikes in the bushes.

"And where that idiot is, will be Jay… and with that… probably Kai and my girls judging by those bikes over there!" the sensei started hurrying along as fast as possible, reaching for his sword at the same time, just in case. "I'm coming kids… don't worry… just chase him away… don't follow him… this is so under control right now…" he started worrying again.

"You're doing it again!" Neuro growled. "No time for worrying! We'll have to fight! You're the master, you need to be able to lead your students!"

* * *

Kai weaved in and out of all the attacks the girls were flinging at him. He proved to be faster than what everyone originally thought, normally he was the hot head that was fairly easy to unbalance... now he was a literal fighting machine! "What!? Is that all you have girls!?" he smirked, leaning back against another tree casually. "Should have known that stupid sensei made a mistake having all his students be a bunch of sissy girls!"

Oh boy… he had done it now…

"THIS SISSY GIRL BROKE BLACKIE'S NOSE!" Seliel shouted and pounced forward, Kai was all ready to take her on when she vanished in a cloud of smoke and then came from behind while Skylar came on head first into him. "HAH! Finally got that one! YES!" she laughed, lying on top of Kai who rolled on his side, trying to shake both of them loose, but both girls kept tackling him while the others took aim.

"HEY!" he yelped when he felt Skylar grab part of his exposed face, sapping some of his flame abilities from him to fight back better. "What the hell!? You're one of those element leeches!" he pointed accusingly.

"Say that again! How would you like it if your fire was used right back at you!?" Skylar's turquoise eyes lit up with determination as she laughed at his surprise.

"ENOUGH!"

Everyone turned to see Garmadon was standing there, tall and rather pissed off, which was not good for anybody, Neuro appearing beside him now, looking just as stern as ever. Even Kai was frozen; staring at the two men before them… oh there was a huge chance of him being screwed now…

"You four are gonna be in so much trouble when we get home, I swear!" he looked and saw Jay, Kai obviously trying to get to him. "And you, Kai… how about you hightail it out of here before you get hurt!? Particularly… you… seeing as my girls have been body slamming you… they tend to do that…"

Kai elbowed Seliel to get off of him and stood up, dusting his gi off, all the other ninja around him were ready to fight should they have to. "Fine… fine…" he took two steps back, away from the group when he smirked once more, "Master… I could use the back up now… things aren't going as expected…"

From under Kai's feet, long shadows stretched out, pulling the others to the ground before they could realize what he meant by that, even Garmadon went down fairly easy when the shadow snaked around his ankles, tying him down. Kai ran along, grabbing Jay by the collar of his ninja robe and then spied Nya not far away and his brown eyes widened as he had an idea.

"HE'S GOING AFTER NYA TOO!" Ronin shouted just before the fire ninja headed in her direction, trying to pull his weapon back so he could throw it, but the shadow kept a firm grip on his wrist now when it saw what he was trying to do. He glared at Kai, _"Come on… it's been a while… but…"_

As hopefully expected, Kai winced, a headache seeming to come on right there…. It wasn't enough to slow him down though as he pretty much tied the two younger ninja by the wrists quickly while they were down and turned his sword back into the bike, making his getaway, back to the closest Underworld entrance.

As soon as he had left the immediate area, the shadows released everyone and retreated back with the master of fire to the Underworld.

"Sensei…" Seliel, Pixal, and Skylar ran over to help Garmadon get back on his feet. Seliel lowered her head, "I… we're sorry we left without even telling you what we wanted to do…" the three hugged him tightly, sounding sincere.

"I convinced them…" Skylar owned up to it which surprised Pixal and Seliel, "It's my fault… Nya would… Kai wouldn't have gotten her too if I didn't start telling her about how we can beat up her brother and she could get payback for what he's done… and… and…" her bright eyes started welling up more as she tried to apologize and explain herself.

Garmadon placed a hand on her head gently, "It's okay… I know how much this situation affected all of you… you were only trying to do the right thing and make sure Jay was safe and Kai was captured…" he wiped his face, feeling rather sick about this situation, but didn't want to show the girls this… he knew he had to trust them more if he didn't want them doing crazy things like this again, "Now let's… let's go home, I'll need some help devising a plan to get them back…"

He then looked over to Ronin who was getting back into his ship, all ready to pack up and leave. He stopped though, sighing and looking back at them, "Need a lift back home?"

"Yes… please… that would be most helpful," Neuro nodded, smirking a bit because he knew the other man actually had a conscious to not abandon this situation and wanted to help more, but not show he cared too much.

Garmadon and Neuro helped all the girls in before climbing into Rex themselves, closing the door while Ronin started the ship back up and set the coordinates to the monastery, Neuro sat in the back with the three kids while Garmadon took the passenger's seat and he and his brother in-law exchanged glances, both seeming to think the same thing.

What were they going to tell Misako, showing up altogether with no Jay or Nya in their company?

**Yea I just did that... I'm sorry Jay fans... Gerard stopped reading this story because what I do to Jay... I wonder if he'll ever forgive me for doing this... I'm sure a lot of you won't like what I'll be doing to Jay in the next few chapters... oops... haha... **

**Well I have like, the next 5-8 chapters planned out... I just need to start writing them because I do want to do two updates a week as previously stated and planned... I don't exactly wanna promise this though because people sometimes get on my butt about this... For now, once a week is definite... twice? Will be on and off most likely... **

**Thanks for reading guys! I hope over the weekend I'll be able to write more so I'll have an update for Monday! See ya around!**

**~Mar**


	35. Chapter 35

Misako stood there, waiting for her run away ninja to return. She was holding a sleeping Lloyd in her arms, not wanting to leave him alone inside, and looked a bit relieved when Garmadon came walking through the gates first, looking completely exhausted though… then he was followed by Neuro, Seliel, Skylar, Pixal, and… Ronin?!

She blinked when her brother closed the gate behind him. She counted again… they were still missing two members of the team if Ronin was coming back here with Jay. When she looked to her husband again, he shook his head a bit and the smaller one covered her mouth, eyes watering, knowing what he had meant by that small motion.

"I'm sorry Misako… Kai had help… we didn't expect it… but I should have… I take fault…" the sensei lowered his head, holding his wife's free hand tightly, "But we'll get both of them back… okay? We just… Nya can survive down there for now… I don't want to rush into something where we might lose someone else… and I know she would probably think the same way…"

The other nodded more, understanding his thinking more.

"For now…" he turned to his four other friends who had been staying with him the past few days, "You guys should return home to your own families… it's not right I should keep you away for so long when there's nothing more you can do to help us right now… we'll handle this situation ourselves, we have Ronin now."

The older man blinked, "Uh, what now? I'm doing what?" he glanced back down at the three girls who looked at him, they didn't like him much, but their teacher was right, they needed help, so they were doing their best to do the whole 'puppy eyes' thing, hoping that would make him shut up for now. "Eer…" he looked away grumpily.

"Just call anytime you need us… I'll be staying with my brother for now; my cousin is filling in for me back home…" Tanaka sighed and hugged the slightly shorter man goodbye. He then picked Seliel up and hugged her, "I'll see you later my sunshine," he smiled when he felt her squeeze him back, "I'll let your father know you are doing quite well… and maybe he should visit when this blows over…"

"Bye uncle Tana… I'll see you later I guess… tell daddy I kicked a boy's butt real good for being a real jerk!" she smirked a bit, though it was sadly, and was set back down on the ground, she liked having a family member around; it felt even more like home when Tanaka was there.

"Come on boys," Griffin stepped ahead, "I gotta get back to Astor and tell everyone what kind of stuff been going down! Gramps will love this one I bet! Not to mention someone's gotta get the word out to the other masters about the situation with Wu! We all gotta be on guard more than ever!" he started zipping along to his hometown while Neuro and Karloff followed far behind, back to their separate towns.

With the others gone, Misako finally started crying, which surprised the others remaining, "I was so scared when I woke up and Griffin explained what was going on… why you all had left…" she hugged Garmadon, careful not to squish their son who was starting to wake up now, hearing all the commotion going on. "And… and now Jay and Nya are gone…" she looked over and started glaring at her brother through her tears, "You promised to protect Jay…"

"Listen;" Ronin pointed to her, "I did try… when you get Jay back he'll vouch for me… got it? How dare you think I wouldn't do my best to make you happy and look after him! I'm not some invincible fighting machine… I'm older than you and a criminal pretty much at this point… I got a lot of people chasing me and you should have known Jay wasn't totally safe with me! Honestly, why would you not have a reason to trust me when I said I'd do my best?"

"Because you threatened to rat out my husband during the war for money and he would have been killed! How do I know you're not the same man still and decided to work for Wu again!?"

"Hey! You fed me that lie about the outpost and I lost my eye to Clouse because of it! You're no better! You didn't care about what would happen to me if Chen found out it was all a lie!"

"I don't care about traitors! You got what you deserved Ronin!" she hissed back, protectively holding Lloyd to her chest again.

"SHUT UP!" Skylar finally shouted which made everyone stare at her. "Who the hell cares what you idiots did to each other!?" she snapped at the siblings, "You're just as bad as Kai and Nya! Always fighting… we don't need any more enemies… we need help…" she wiped her eyes. "Nya is our sister… I wanna get her back… we all do… I always hear you guys lecture us about the whole 'past is in the past' thing…"

"Yea!" Seliel snapped, "It's not really in the past now is it!?" she growled. "You're no better than us… are you!?"

The adults quieted down now, they couldn't argue this one, they children had them cornered, "I can't punish you for speaking so harshly to us… because… well, you're right about that…" Garmadon looked to his wife and brother in-law, running a hand through his hair. "Oh boy… we got a mess to clean up now… don't we? Getting you sister back…"

"And Jay our new brother…" Pixal spoke next, reminding them that they cared just as much for the little lightning ninja. "Just say what we need to do to get them both back… we'll listen and follow your orders this time… we promise to… as long as you promise to not have such petty arguments such as this…"

The three adults looked at one another and nodded, the girls were right; they needed to focus on getting their missing ninja back from the clutches of Wu and his underlings and stop him from trying to escape to a different realm.

"Sometimes… I fail to realize how mature you ladies have gotten over the years, even you Pixal…" Garmadon weakly smiled, "Guess I still picture you as these little girls who were so eager to learn how to fight… before you realized just how evil your enemies really were…" he hugged them all. "We're going to going get them both back, let's start coming up with a plan… shall we?"

The seven started inside, calming down and ready to start working.

* * *

Jay's head hit the stone ground, head throbbing more, Nya screaming as Wu smacked him again with his long staff before he even got the chance to roll over and get back up. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" she shouted at him, not even afraid of getting hit as well. "Can't you see he's had enough already you big meanie!?" the twelve year old continued to shout at him.

Wu scoffed and looked at her, "Ugh… Kai; why did you have to bring your brat of a sister? Honestly… she has a huge mouth and it's grating on my nerves…" he turned around, walking out of the cell and locking it again. "I hope you change your mind about helping me again Jay… I really need you with us on this…"

The freckled boy tilted his head so he could see his old master again, "Never… I never want more people to get hurt because of you… I'd rather die than see that happen…"

Kai growled, "That can be arranged you know!"

Jay didn't look scared anymore, he looked ready for death, which was kind of surprising to Kai at first, normally Jay was scared of them… it was almost like he and Wu didn't know how to deal with him if he was afraid anymore.

Nya's brown eyes started watering over in the mean time, "I hate you…" she trembled. "I hate you I hate you I hate you!" she shouted at Kai several more times. He looked stone cold towards her, "I can't believe I was ever related to you! You're a monster! A greedy, selfish… abusive monster! Both of you are!" she addressed Wu now as well.

The two laughed a bit more at her words and they left the dungeon with a loud slamming of the doors.

"Jay?" she crawled over, her hands bound in front of her still, "Here…" she helped him sit up, "You okay?" she asked him.

He looked away, spitting out some more blood, hating the metallic, kind of salty taste of the bodily fluid, "Psh… yea… of course… why wouldn't I be?" he tried to make it like it was no big deal, but he spat more blood out and coughed.

"Your mouth is bleeding a lot…" she commented, looking down, wishing she had something to help clean him up, but she couldn't even use her water powers down there were there was nothing to work with. "I'm sorry…" she started crying again.

"Pfft, this was gonna happen anyways… you can't keep running forever… right?" he leaned against the wall, wiping his mouth again on his tunic sleeve. "You did your best… you all did… I appreciate the help… sorry I took off that night… I'm sure I really worried you guys… my parents too…" he apologized.

"Nah, you just needed your space to decide what you wanted… we understood that… we just wanted to make sure you weren't going to be kidnapped though like this… being… tortured and…" she sniffed more, just thinking about what might be done to the two of them. "I never thought it'd be so scary down here…" she looked around the dark. "I never used to be afraid of the dark though…"

The boy in blue glanced up at the blackest spaces of the room, "This isn't darkness… this is literal hell…" he then felt her lean her head against his shoulder. "Just keep you head down and don't scream and shout at them… I'm… I'm just gonna take all of this like a man… like what Wu said I should be like… maybe then he'll give up…"

"You could die if you keep denying to help them you idiot…" she sighed, trying to make him see his reasoning wouldn't benefit him at all.

"Oh well… they can't really kill me… that said so themselves, they need me… so… they just will keep doing this and hope one day I'll break…" he leaned more against her as well, eyes drooping shut as the two friends started to fall asleep, both exhausted.

* * *

Ronin's eyes flicked up to see his sister pacing around the living room more and more, "Quit that; you're making me tired just watching you…" He shut up though when her bright green eyes flicked down at him in a ferocious glare. "Never mind…" he coughed.

Seliel, Pixal, and Skylar were all sitting on the other couch; they barely got any sleep over the past two weeks, constantly afraid they would come to the Underworld to just find their friends dead or something just as horrifying.

Lloyd slid off his father's lap and climbed up to sit with the girls who needed some comforting right about now, Seliel ruffling his hair. "Sorry we all seem really busy and stuff Lloyd… we haven't been playing or training with you like we should be…" she apologized, "But we need to make things right… and soon hopefully…"

Garmadon stood up, let out a breath, "I've come to a decision…" he looked at his four remaining students. "You three are going to the Underworld…" he started, "But I'm staying here with Lloyd this time… you'll be accompanied by Misako this round…" he looked to his wife who nodded in agreement with this idea, He seemed hesitant though to say the next thing, "And Ronin…" he coughed as quickly as possible.

"WHAT?!" Misako shouted. "No! No way! I'm not doing this with him, he stays here!"

"I want as many of us down there as possible and I don't exactly trust him to babysit while I go with you! He can move faster than me anyways and I'm sure you two will be fine together…" Garmadon looked away; expect this argument days ago, mentally preparing all his comebacks and reasons for deciding on his.

Ronin shrugged, crossing his legs, "I'm fine with it personally… I knew you do something like that and I don't care… I guess it's only right if I go, I was in charge of keeping Jay safe from Kai…" he yawned.

"Well I'm still not agreeing to this…"

"It just comes down to one fact Mimi…" Garmadon turned to grab her shoulders, "I trust you to do this and get everyone back… I don't trust myself to be honest with this one… you saw what happened when I went to find the girls and Jay… I lost… so this time, you're going out… please?" he rested his forehead against hers, "For me?"

His wife looked to the side at the girls and her brother, embarrassed he was doing this in front of them. "Garmadon… no…" she quietly told him, but suddenly gave her a soft kiss. "Hmmm…" she blushed more at this action. "Fine…" she folded her arms. "I'll go for Jay and Nya… no other reason than that!"

"Thank you my love," he smiled more, releasing her at last. "At dawn…" he looked to the kids, "You guys will head out and if all goes right… we'll be a complete family again by sundown…"

* * *

"He's gotten way tougher than I thought he could be…" Cole looked surprised as he saw Jay was sitting up in his cell, silent while Nya was in the corner, hiding in the shadows, wanting to be as far away as she possibly could from the door. "How is this gonna work then guys?"

Zane looked over to Wu who was smirking. "I have an idea now… come on boys; we have a stubborn brat to break…" he waved his hand, dissolving the cloud of purple gas that showed them the dungeon. "Hey Kai?" the fire ninja looked up, "How much do you care about your sister?"

"I don't…" he bluntly said, but stopped, "Uh, why?"

"Eh, no reason… just… wanted to know is all…" Wu looked like he was scheming some kind of awful plan, but Kai raised an eyebrow as he and the other two boys followed along into the cell where they were still held up in and tortured. "I've been doing some thinking and I think it's a good thing you ended up bringing Nya down here too… so; good job I guess…"

Cole and Zane looked away when Kai was praised, he always was praised. When they escaped and managed to steal the weapons back, Wu never said two words to them other than scolding them about getting caught, but Kai always got the most attention. He wasn't even that good! Cole was at least three times as strong and powerful and Zane was by far the smartest of them all. It just didn't make any sense!

They had to push those thoughts aside though as Wu slammed the dungeon doors open, cracking his knuckles.

**Hello naughty children, it's suffering time owo**

**Ugh, this one took all weekend to write... I'm mentally exhausted tbh... I forget how much work this can be if you are on the brink of missing an update... technically a day late... hope you guys don't mind that ^^;**

**Anyways... I hope you're all ready for platonic Jaya angst this weekend, ain't that exciting for all of us? OuO**

**Thanks for reading my friends! I'm so excited this has become probably the second most popular fan fic I've done in a long time!**

**~Mar**


	36. Chapter 36

Jay glanced up tiredly. "Ugh…" he puffed, weren't they just in here this morning to torture? They wanted to torture him more? He sat up a bit more, but oddly enough, was stopped as he did so.

"Oh don't worry… I'm not here for you this time…" Wu smirked and snapped his fingers. Zane marched right in and dragged the half asleep Nya out, who started kicking and screaming, though it was no use. "I've realized I've been going about this the wrong way with you… you don't care if I hurt you anymore Jay… you've grown numb to it and I applaud you, really, you finally manned up," Wu folded his hands together, "But I know… you care about her, quite a lot too… you don't want to see a good little girl like her get hurt… right?"

"Jay…" Nya sniffed, trying to pull away but was held in her place, "Jay…" she reached her hands out and grabbed the cell bars, wishing she was back in that cell now as they pulled her back more.

"Leave her alone! She has nothing to do with this! She's absolutely useless to you, you don't have to hurt her!" the freckled boy shouted back, upset that they were doing this now to them both. "She shouldn't even be here in the first place!"

"Well I mean, if you don't care then… you know… who knows what will happen to her… she's still my enemy since she works for my brother anyways… I don't care about how she's twelve or anything… an enemy is an enemy… right boys?"

"You bet…" Kai mindlessly said, finding this situation rather surreal.

Nya choked on her tears, "Kai… Kai you can't let them do this to me…" she swallowed, starting to shake, "we fight and shout at each other for picking sides like this… b-but you don't actually want him to… t-t-to," she sniffed more, "You're not gonna let him physically hurt me…? Right…? RIGHT?!" Her brother kept silent though at her screaming and reasoning, "KAI!" she shouted at him when he turned his back to her.

Wu laughed, "Like he cares about you?" he ruffled her dark hair, "he told me all about you… you stole the spotlight all the time… and from what little I saw and heard… you did indeed…" he smirked wide, "like you, my brother overshadowed me with everything… his skill, his fake, put on charm… the only person that saw my power and potential was my father… yet Garmadon got everything he ever wanted still…"

"I…" Nya sniffed, "How dare you!" she shouted at her brother, "How dare you tell them that! Kai; you were the attention hogger! You always wanted someone to watch you do something! No matter how stupid it was!" she looked at the scar over her left eye. "You got that damn scar on your face because you wanted to prove to daddy that you could be a blacksmith just like him! Even when he told you it was too dangerous to do that yet because you could get hurt and were too young at the time!"

Kai squeezed his eyes shut at her sound reasoning, brushing his hand over the scar, "SHUT UP!" he shouted angrily at her, about ready to give her a smack to the face or maybe to even spray a bit of fire at her just to get her to be quiet. She flinched and squeezed her eyes shut as well, expecting it, but he pulled his hand back down and turned away. "You are an enemy now… sister or not… you chose his side…"

"You… you…" she hiccupped.

"You bastard…" Jay had finished the sentence for his friend. The others looked at her and realized they almost forgot all about him in there. "You're sister is the kindest, most sweetest person I have ever met… and you would smack her for telling you the truth…?" he was on his knees, against the bars, looking stone cold. "You are just too blind with your damn ego to see that she only ever wanted to help you… just like Sensei Garmadon wanted to do with your master… and like him, you pushed her away… you are just like Wu after all…"

"I said shut up!" Kai laughed out with fire that burned the red head's knuckles a bit, making him hiss in pain. "You stay out of this because it doesn't concern you… you have known my sister for how long?! What the hell do you really know about our relationship!? What she's really like?!"

"I know more about her than you do you idiot!" Jay snapped again.

"ENOUGH!" Wu started walking out, growing tired of hearing the kids' pointlessly arguing. "Maybe after hearing her scream a few times, you will have changed your mind about using your powers to get us out of here and one more step closer to domination over this pathetic land!" he threatened, "Come on boys! We have some work to do…"

"JAY!" Nya screamed as the door was barred shut.

"NYAAAA!" Jay screamed right back, hoping she could hear him through the metal door. "No…" he whispered, "I have to do something… I-I… this is my fault… it's all my fault… I got her into this mess… I never should have ran away… I should have just accepted their help and stayed with them… we all would have been a lot happier I bet… actually having people who cared about me…" he wiped his eyes.

* * *

Misako stood at the Fire Temple entrance, sighing when she saw her brother walk up beside her, staring at the entrance with her. She still was not crazy about this whole idea, but promised her husband that she would behave… at least hoping he would as well until this was all over. The girls seemed to like him enough though so at least they could get along and Ronin would look after them.

"So your eye was cut clean out by uncle Clouse!?" Skylar's turquoise eyes widened more in awe at the story he told them. Seliel rolled her eyes, personally finding it rather gross that this conversation was continuing as they started walking inside.

"Yea; and it was the worst pain I have felt in my entire life… I don't recommend pissing your father off…" Ronin held his hand over the eye patch and glancing back down at the girl in orange. "You're dad is actually insane… okay?"

"Don't we all know it… and you were just as to accept a trade deal with him…" Misako mumbled, looking at the reflections on her sword blade and sighing. "Kay, come on, just ahead now… let's get this over with and hope that Jay won't cave anytime soon… and that we'll find them both in a good condition…" she looked over to the lava fall. "Who would like to jump first?" she turned around and asked the distracted girls.

"Uuh…" they all looked at one another. "Ronin would!" they shouted, pointing to the mercenary, even nudging him forward a bit.

"Oh come on!"

"The children have spoken," Misako held her sword, pointing it at him now. "So jump first…" she smirked. "You wanted to come along and help us didn't you? Or are you too scared brother?"

He shot her a look and nodded; running and jumping down into the Underworld. Pixal, Seliel, and Skylar followed and Misako hesitated, thinking about facing Wu again, especially after all he told her at their last meeting. She wiped her eyes and nodded, "For Jay and Nya then, I'll face you again…" she closed her eyes leapt forward.

* * *

Jay shuddered as he heard Nya scream and crying like they were doing something truly horrible to her. He tried covering his ears, but it did little to help with the echoing halls of the fortress he was being held in. "Why did I have to make friends like this? Why did I feel the need to be a part of something like this!?" he hiccuped. "Why did I ever leave home in the first place!?"

Inside, Nya was left on the floor, hugging herself, curled up on the cold floor, a couple singe marks on her tunic and the flesh underneath it, a nice welt showing up on her cheek when she was smacked by Wu several times. "I think that's enough for now…" Wu mumbled, telling Kai.

Zane and Cole were against the wall, surprised that Nya was holding back her tears now even after getting fire spat at her. "Wow… she's really tough… and she's so small too…" Cole blinked.

"My brother picked some tough little ladies it seems… guess I must give him credit for that…" Wu dusted his hands off and turned on a heel to walk away from her small form.

"They're coming for me you know…" she looked up with fire in her brown eyes. "And they're gonna kill you for doing this…"

It was quiet for a minute before Wu started bursting out with laugher, "Oh really? It's been nearly three weeks since you two have been down here… where are they!? Hmm?" Nya lowered her head again, "Face the truth kid… I won… Jay will agree to help me and then that's it for all you surface dwellers… we're going to be the ones who rule over you…"

"Garmadon won't let that happen… and you know it…" she sniffed more, wishing she could stand and fight them all off, but knew she wouldn't have a chance right now, weakened and surrounded by four dangerous boys, Spinjitsu doing little good against them all. "And if I know my sisters… they're coming for me… right now as we speak… my sensei is loyal to me and them…"

"Silly girl, no one-"

"Sir; intruders! They know Spinjitsu and they're tearing us apart!" Bonezai slid in, frantically raving about their attackers.

"WHAT?!" Wu shouted, Nya smirked a bit, as she was right. "Ugh, move it boys! Don't let them in the cell block because I don't have time to fight them now… I still need to have time to get Jay to agree to helping us…" He dragged Nya with him down the corridor. "Listen here you brat… you're going to do as I say right now!" he showed Nya to him, whimpered a bit after being shook. "She got a nasty burn in there…" he raised his hand, "And I bet she's in for a real shocker this time…"

"NO!" Jay shouted when he placed his hands on Nya's shoulders. Wu stopped raising an eyebrow.

"Jay, don't…" Nya swallowed, "don't do it… don't you dare say what you're gonna say…"

"I know what he'll do to you though… it's what he did to me… and I can't let that happen to you…" he leaned his face against the bars of the cell. "Don't do it to her Wu… just please… don't… you don't have to keep hurting her… I give up…" he closed his eyes again, defeated. He couldn't let her get hurt if it was up to him to help her now.

Wu gave a smug smirk, darkly laughing at his victory before tossing Nya back inside the cell, grabbing Jay from it instead, "Remember… if you try to double cross me Jay… it's over for her… and it'll be your fault…" he grabbed the back of his head, pulling his hair a bit as he pushed him forward more into the throne room where the boys would meet him and use the golden weapons.

"At least I know I'll be able to take on my brother when he gets in here for sure… slow old man… he thinks he's so witty and powerful… the fool…" he spat to himself, throwing Jay to the side, making him sit and wait for the others. That's when something happened that he did not expect.

"THEY'RE COMING!" Knuckle shouted, running down the halls, followed by several other Skulkin who should have been busy fighting instead of trying to hide from their guests. Wu couldn't be bothered with them though… "SHE'S COMING!"

"She? You mean one of the girls?" Wu asked, wondering why they were so afraid of a young girl charging in.

"NO! HER! THE STRONGEST WARRIOR NINJA!" Knuckle shouted, poking his head inside to inform his master of who he was talking about, "THE BRAIDED WARRIOR WHO MAKES THE EARTH SHAKE!"

Wu's eyes widened. "Damnit… he sent his own wife to do his dirty work…" he cursed, stomping his foot. If there was one person that was hard for him to keep up with, it was her. "This is going so well now is it…" Wu sarcastically said to himself. "Kruncha!" he addressed the more calm one, "Go get Cole, Zane, and Kai and stop running around hysterically! You're soldiers! It's not like you can die or something!"

"Y-Yes sir!" Kruncha shouted and started running off in search of the three underlings in question.

* * *

Ronin and Misako were back to back, weapons pointed out, the girls were trying their best to move on ahead but they could see; the other three boys were hiding in the shadows, waiting for them to get closer to the entrance of the fortress so they could jump them.

"You still got it…" Ronin admitted, sword scraping against the steel of a Skulkin. "I'm surprised, it's… it's been how long?" he threw him off. "Since the war I mean… you're injury healed pretty nice."

"I lost count of the time…" Misko kicked over in the face and whipped around into her Spinjitsu tornado, wiping out ten more enemies, "but all I know is that we have bigger problems to face…" she narrowed her green eyes at the servants of Wu. To her surprise, they retreated inside Wu's castle. "Something… is not right… they went back inside…"

"Then that's where we need to be!" Pixal shouted and started running ahead, Seliel and Skylar close behind as they followed the three boys into the throne room. They didn't just barge in this time though; they peered through the doors, seeing them take their golden weapons… to their surprise however, Jay was there, slouching as he held his nunchucks loosely.

* * *

"So the loser finally caved… nice…" Kai laughed. "What a pushover… totally easy to manipulate!"

"You should be ashamed for hurting your sister Kai…" Jay stared at his feet, not even believing he was going through with this. He wondered if Nya even cared she would be tortured if it meant protecting Ninjago. She was brave, he'll give her that, a lot braver than he was right now; giving up so quickly the moment he saw her new scars.

"How will you ever make it in this world being so soft like that?" Cole commented. "Survival of the fittest Jay… remember that… because you should have known from the moment that you signed up for this… no backing out now… this is our chance… just accept it and you can be better off when Wu takes over…"

Jay just shook his head, "Do you even hear yourselves when you talk?! I don't want to be included in this ridiculous plan of yours…"

"Shut it; let's get this over with already! I'm sick of waiting! Always running around and forced to remain in this wretched world with master…" Kai snapped off, angry that they were just standing around and talking.

Jay was about to say something else, when he caught eye that the door was partially opened. "What…?" he blinked, seeing that the girls were there, looking at him.

"What is it? Do you see something?" Zane looked over at the shocked boy.

"Me? Uh, nothing…" he shook his head. "I-I…" he swallowed. _"If I buy some time, they can break Nya out and we can all escape here before Wu can make me do this…"_ he bit and glanced back at the other four. "I just feel… kind of faint is all…" he held his head. "I don't know if I can… have enough strength to do this right now… I was beaten up pretty bad…"

Across the room, Skylar stared at Jay, confused, not understanding what was going on now or why he was behaving like this. "So… wait… what's he doing? He looked fine until he saw us… why isn't he ratting us out if he's helping them?!"

Pixal chuckled a bit, "That is because he is buying us time to go find Nya and come back… let us go and use this while Ronin and Misako make their way in here and once Nya is freed, we will join in as well!"

"Good plan Pix, I agree," Seliel nodded once and slipped away first, pulling her sword back out, "Be on guard for sentries and other skeleton warriors that might be around here…"

* * *

Misako and Ronin walked through the gates that were left open, disregarding the skeletons that were in pieces around them, the skulls groaning in discomfort, "Well, that wasn't too hard now was it?" the older brother laughed a bit. "Think the girls are doing good on their own?"

"I don't know… think you can tell me where they are?" Misako tightened her braid more, pulling her long sword out, expecting to face someone soon. "Or have you grown rusty in the years?"

Ronin shrugged, "Maybe… don't quite count on it though…" he stopped walking for a moment. "I think… they went to get Nya…" he concentrated more, "Jay's in the throne room and I think shit's about to happen, let's go!" he started running, grabbing his sister's arm before she could respond. "Move it kid!"

She shot him a look, being their age difference was only five years, but ran anyways.

* * *

Nya was lying on the damp, hard stone floor of the cell, feeling lonelier and more helpless than she had felt in a long time. "I never should have screamed and cried like I did… then Jay wouldn't have done this for me… I don't need him to do this…" she whispered to herself. "Now I can even get out of here to help stop them… I wonder if my sisters even know where I-"

"THERE SHE IS! NYA!"

"-am?" Nya blinked, sitting up, starting to smile when she saw it really was them, "You did come for me…" she fell into their group hug when they grabbed the key, unlocking the cell and gathered around her.

"Course you dummy," Seliel sighed with a smile, "Of course we would come for you… Garmadon would never let you be here forever…" she was the first to stand back up, "Right now though, Ronin and Misako are dealing with Wu and the boys alone… can you fight… oh gods… what happened to you?" she just noticed her bruised cheek and the fading scorch marks and tattered robes.

"Don't worry about me, I want to fight… I want to beat my brother senselessly after what he's done…" she insisted anyways.

"Thought you might say that," Skylar laughed and passed her an extra sword they had brought as well. "Now come on… let's kick some stupid boy butt…" she laughed. The four hugged once more and started back out, hoping they wouldn't be too late to stop this.

**OH MY GOOOOOOSH... so after the next chapter I would say we're about halfway done, officially I mean haha... *tries to desperately balance writing with working on webcomic and fails* **

**I like to torture children... as you can obviously see. I normally inflict emotional damage, but I thought we'd take a left turn and do something physical like burns or something :D**

**Oh and also, the Skulkin would so be 100% terrified of getting messed up by Misako and you can fight me on that lol  
**

**Ugh so, kind of sorry about no update on Friday, like I said, a lot going on rn with all my art X3 I think I'll be able to get the next one out by the weekend... though, don't hate me for saying this but... I was thinking about doing a short hiatus again...? I mean, since I'll be transitioning arcs again and time will pass... yay, nay? I'm feeling the yay. Tbh, I just don't want to get all the 'so when are you updating this?' messages... **

**So thanks a bunch for reading guys, have a great day and I'll see ya later!**

**~Mar**


	37. Chapter 37

Garmadon sat on the floor in front of the couch, holding onto Lloyd, hoping all would be well when they returned, hopefully soon too. Lloyd was curious as to where everyone else went, and knew his father was agitated about something from the way he refused to let go of him and constantly looked at the gates to the monastery for someone.

The sensei sighed, kissing the back of his son's head, "Sorry buddy for smothering you like this… I just hope mommy will come back okay with everyone… but I'm sure she will…" he sadly smiled, "She's a strong one… stronger than me too…" he let out a breath, feeling the boy hug him. "I love you Lloyd…"

"Love you too daddy…" he closed his eyes, hoping that his father would ease up more and do something besides obsessively hugging him until they got back.

_"__They'll be fine… they'll all be fine…"_

* * *

Wu kicked Jay in the lower back, making him get to his feet, "Alright you brat, don't think I know you're just trying to buy those friends of yours time to get in here and stop me with full power! Stand over there right now before I break something!" he snapped off, impatient with the little blue nuisance that caused nothing but trouble over the years.

Jay sighed and did as he was ordered while the other three stood, waiting for him. "Ready sir…" he mumbled sadly. At least he would be let go after this and could stay with Garmadon and the others and maybe try to help him undo this mess he helped to make…

One by one the boys made their weapons glow, but that ended quickly though as Misako kicked the door down, Ronin behind her, staring in awe and terror at what she was capable of. "Sorry to crash your little party kids… but I think you have some things we want…"

"Five things to be exact…" Ronin added on to what she said.

"Um; but there are only four weapons? It seems you are just as dim as you appear to be…" Zane was unamused at the mercenary's math skills.

"Hah, I'm not wrong tin can; you think we'd abandon the blue jay with you brats?" Ronin laughed which made Jay smile awkwardly at the sincerity in his voice.

Wu groaned a bit at this interruption he had hoped would not happen. "Fine then boys… take em out and then we can leave…" he slunk into the shadows, knowing Misako and Ronin would come after him first and foremost. "Surely you can take on two old has been warriors…" Jay stood where he was when the other three took off to fight them.

The siblings gripped their weapons and charged ahead, not even caring at this point they were fighting a bunch of tweens, they were tweens hell-bent on obliterating them both without a second thought. "Just saying, I think the girls are on their way, hold out a bit longer and while they handle them, we can get Wu… and… if you want… end him…"

Misako nodded, looking into the shadows to see the red eyes that belonged to the man she once knew. "I'll handle it… I want to avoid my son fighting him at all costs… and I would be proud to be the one end that jerk's life…"

* * *

Nya struggled to keep up, but still was pushing herself to move it to the throne room, "Please let them be okay… please let all of them be okay… I don't want anyone to die…" she was breathing heavily while Seliel held her hand tight, the girls all knew, she exclusively meant Jay, Ronin, and Misako, she was done with her brother, between them, it was kill or be killed at this point.

Pixal jumped ahead and pulled the doors open again, ready to join the fight, her sais flipped out and ready again. Jay looked over to see Nya and he smiled more, seeing she looked a bit better now compared to earlier. Sadly, there was no time for hugs though as Wu decided to intervene and join this battle as well, hating that his enemies seemed relentless in trying to undo his plans.

He stomped his foot to the ground, shadows springing forth and slamming everyone, even his own students to the ground, holding the other six and Jay down. "ENOUGH OF THIS!" his shouts echoed into the dark chamber. "I am through with all of your pathetic nonsense!" he pointed to Misako. "And I am sick of your constant incompetence!" he looked to the four boys.

His general, Samukai had come in now to the party upon hearing the battle sounds, Wu expecting him to help fight. "Oh good, Samukai, there you are… give me the weapons… we still need them to get out of here…" he snapped, making sure the girls would stay down.

Samukai laughed through when he made the grab for them, "You wanted these so badly… being how they can give you the ultimate power and you can finally rule the world… well maybe I don't want to live in a world where I have to answer to you amymore!" he turned away, but his bones started rattling.

"What's happening…" Skylar swallowed; squinting her eyes as the weapons started glowing brighter along with the Skulkin general's body, "Why is he glowing like that?"

Wu started laughing more, "Why do you think I needed the four boys to use them? No one, not even I, can hold all of them at once… even you should have known that you blundering idiot! That was why I needed the Dark Realm! There I could absorb enough power to make myself perfect… and then I could use them at will!" he laughed a bit harder as Ronin, Misako, and the eight kids watched the skeleton burst into a pile of dust.

The ground started shaking more as Wu let the boys get to their feet as something else happened in the dark and dank throne room of the fortress.

A dark colored portal opened up, like ripping through reality, creating a strange drafty feeling as Wu dusted his hands off, "Come on then kiddos-" he looked over his shoulder when he heard a small scuffle go on behind his back. The four girls were clutching the weapons tightly after Samukai was gone, though they were still being held down, trying to keep them more away from the boys. "Oh… come on!" he turned back to walk through, "And take blue boy over there…"

Jay paled, "What?" he whispered when Kai and Cole grabbed him. He felt like he was going to throw up, he couldn't handle being trapped with them even more. He started crying at the thought of all the torture he would receive by them.

"JAY!" Nya struggled to get to her feet. Misako got up first though and started off after them as fast as she could, but Wu whirled around and gave her zap that knocked her to one knee, not enough to hurt her badly, "Good and evil… there always appeared to be a balance from what you all preached during the war… but where we're going… it doesn't exist… I'll be back… you can tell your stupid husband that… I want Garmadon to fear for his life… I want him to be afraid of me…"

And just like that… they were gone.

Nya was on the floor crying uncontrollably as Ronin picked her up with a heavy sigh, "Come on kid… you can't just go after him like that… you're hurt… it's okay… you… you shouldn't have to worry… that kid is really tough…" he felt Skylar lean against his side too. He was never that good with kids, but he didn't like to see a bunch of little girls start crying.

Misako looked back at the older man who hugged the poor little girls who really needed it right now. She then looked down at the ground before getting to her feet, hating herself for letting this happen, even though she promised her husband she would get the job done. "Come on… we can't waste any time getting back… I'm sure Skulkin will be crawling all over this place in a few minutes and we'll never get out of here…" she wiped her eye, trying to keep her voice steady, even though she was really upset now too.

* * *

Garmadon was sitting on the deck of the monastery, it was getting late in the day; Lloyd was running around, making his own fun until he eventually grew tired and flopped back on the wooden porch next to his father; closing his eyes and appeared to be ready for a nap.

The graying man laughed and put the boy's juice box down. Immediately, the blonde sat up to start drinking it, not looking so tired again. His blonde hair being ruffled by the smiling sensei.

That was when the gates opened to see six return home, one boy strangely missing. He felt a cold pit in his stomach now, much like what his wife felt weeks ago when they lost Jay and Nya.

He ran to Misako without hesitation, hugging her tightly, knowing what must have happened down there. "He got him… didn't he? He took Jay and got away…" She gave a slight nod as a response. He squeezed his eyes shut and held her tighter. He looked a little bit happy to see the golden weapons were with them though…

"NYA!" Lloyd happily shouted when he saw the young master of water come over to him, hugging her around the waist tightly. She laughed and hugged him back tightly, still crying.

"I missed you too you little cutie," she laughed sadly, sniffling, trying to not remember that terrified look on Jay face as he was dragged away from them yet again. She shuddered again at the thought and just wanted him back. When she looked back down at Lloyd, she suddenly imagined him getting dragged away like that too and went back to squeezing him.

They would get Jay back, who knew when… or where it would happen, but they were going to keep training, they were going to become stronger and hone their elements, and they would stop Wu for the last time.

**Yes I went there... I WENT THERE. Jay is not out of the woods yet everyone HAHAHA Also, to answer that guest, no, I have not seen season 6 at all so I reckon it was mere coincidence I had the dialogue sound similiar.**

**Kay now kiddies, I'm sorry to say rn... this one's gonna have to go on a small hiatus because the next chapter will be a time jump anyways because this was like a chapter to finally wrap up the ends I meant to tie around 5 chaps ago to make way for the next arc of the story soooo yea... everyone's fave word... hiatus... *shields my face*  
**

**You see, I really just wanna get 100 stories out of the way and focus on that for another week or two, that and writing 15 more one shots and continuing this short epic is hard between finishing the plot for Black King and White Queen which I want to start posting by mid March again AND not to mention making The First Masters of Spinjitsu into a digital comic for everyone by July this year which is already slightly draining, though kind of fun too... **

**Sooo... yea, that sound like a game plan or what everyone? Because I spent all this week coming up with it while drawing the comic... I'm a very tired bean who over works herself hahaha... *ahem* k, moving ooooon...**

**Thanks so much for reading this guys! AND for making it my most favorited story on my account! I am so amazed and honored that you guys like it. I'll see you later!**

**~Mar**


	38. Chapter 38

"Got sights on them, go ahead Skylar and Seliel; you're all clear to go in, we have eye on you currently and every one of those underlings appear to be inside," Pixal spoke into; her walkie talkie. "And there is no suspicion that we are here so far, my receptors have picked up no speaking or communication". The white metal covered android looked behind to see Nya, slouched against the air conditioning unit atop the small apartment building they were seated on.

"Cool, thanks Pix! We're heading in right now to stop the transaction and to recover any and all stolen goods we can find!" Seliel's voice chirped over the radio as she walked down the block with the amber ninja by her side.

"Excellent! Good luck in there! …something the matter sister? You seem… um, down, as most would say," Pixal frowned more when looking at the young master of water. "I'm sure the other two will be fine… no need to fear for them…"

Nya glanced up and shrugged, "Every day… I can't stop thinking about him… where he is… what he's being forced to do… how many new scars I'll find on him when we actually get him back…" she wiped her eyes, "If we even do get him back I mean…" the young ninja swallowed hard, appearing to suppress her feelings right now.

She of course meant Jay; there was nobody else in the world she could have possibly meant. That was what drove her to train more with Garmadon after the fight in the Underworld when she was captured and brought there, why she rarely visited home and her parents, not being able to face them and tell them their son, her brother, was lost forever and that he was hell bent on taking over the world and destroying them who stood in his way. The fifteen year old turned her head back to the street below, seeing the two older girls go to break the lock on the door.

"Do not worry Nya," Pixal smiled, "Your sixteenth birthday will be coming around this week and we will make sure things stay quiet and that Jay will come home safely soon, as soon as we can get a clue of where Wu is residing… we will find him Nya… do not worry, it may be four years since then… but I believe he will be alive and most happy to see your face after so long," she held the black haired teenager's hands.

"Thank you Pixal…" she abruptly hugged her friend who seemed taken aback by her actions, though she hugged back anyways, smiling once more that her sister was calm again. "Alright… guess we better make sure those goofballs don't get caught… right?"

"We can still hear you two you know…" Skylar's voice came on over their walkie talkie, a bit irritated by being called a goofball... though it wasn't a lie, over the years; the amber ninja became much more mischievous and quirky with her battle tactics, becoming a true master of deception. "And hell yea we can get this job done without your help… I almost feel kind of bad I got to toss uncle Clouse in prison last week… _almost_… I think at this point it was his choice to stick around, though he was at least a way better guardian then dad was, I will give him that one…" she laughed at the last part.

Seliel's voice came on next, "Yea well, we've been busting up your dad's operations left and right the past few months… soon he'll come to mainland next and the you can beat the crap out of him if you want! Maybe we'll figure out just why his little mafia has been screwing around in Ninjago City again…" the pink hair ninja cracked her knuckles, stopping Skylar from using the bombs they had. "Sky! You don't want them to know we're breaking in! That's why we're the ones doing this!"

"Ugh, you're no fun Sel! Things like this need to start off with a big bang kind of entrance…" the amber ninja grabbed Seliel's hand and copied her smoke ability for now after receiving the death glare from the oldest girl, "Fine, we'll do it your way… okay?"

The two girls disappeared in a cloud of dark smoke and reappeared on the other side of the door, as it was planned naturally, not bombs, no loud noises where they could be spotted. Seliel could hear the guys on the other side and motioned for the other follow quickly before they could miss their chance at this bust.

From afar, the whole situation was under even more careful watch though. "Ugh, do you honestly think they're going to handle this one on their own? Yea, they've gotten a lot tougher… but still, they're just little girls-OUCH!"

"My niece if more than capable of handling the situation and being this team's leader Ronin… she has proven herself to Garmadon," Tanaka had elbowed the other man, retaining his calm look. "And you have seen them fight when it really counted; this is not their first mission you have observed their work on. Your sister and brother in-law have put much care into their training and character, do not be quick to doubt what they can and cannot do".

"Yea yea…" Ronin sighed, "Then how come we're standing out over here as back up if you're so sure they'll be able to do this!?" the mercenary mumbled, watching Pixal and Nya. He had grown strangely close to especially Nya over the past four years he decided to stick around after the incident in the Underworld. When it came down to it, she was the one that convinced him to stay in the end and help them out.

Tanaka side glanced him, still not very happy about his current attitude with this mission, "We are not the backup, Pixal and Nya are the backup, we are the fail safe that is never needed because they always do a marvelous jo-"

A huge explosion went off from inside the building followed by an angry scream that echoed afterwards, "SKYLAR!" Seliel had screamed so loud they could hear it two blocks away from the rooftops. "I SAID NO BOMBS YOU IDIOT! NO BOMBS!"

"What?" The girl in orange turned around to face the pink haired one in gray and blue, "They're all knocked out aren't they? It just makes turning them over to the police even easier for us!" she held two more in her hands, "These doodads you made are super great! They just knocked out twenty dudes in a couple of seconds! You gotta show me how to make them!" she turned to look at the crates the men were dealing with, "Let's see what these dudes were doing now," she smirked and grabbed a crowbar, "Oh damn… check these out…" she pulled out a gun, "Dad knows to get the good stuff…"

"These are stolen arms from the government Sky! Not toys!" Seliel gasped and ripped it from her hands, "We shouldn't be messing around with these… they need to be returned to the government or wherever the hell they really belong… I wash my hands of this… you know I like my ninja weapons better anyways… they seem more… natural to us…" she sighed.

Before they decided to report back, Skylar smirked a bit, staying behind for another minute, having an idea as she noticed one of the henchmen beginning to wake up upon their exiting, "Listen…" she folded her arms and placed a boot on his chest to keep him from moving around more, "The rest of these guys are going to prison…" she started, "But I'm going to let you go crawling back to my dad because I'm nice like that…"

The seventeen year old watched the underling stare at her, realizing this was his master's daughter unmistakenly. And though she would never admit to it because she never wanted to be associated with Chen, she shared a strange quirkiness and love of being in control that her father possessed. "W-what is it?! That can't be it… you're not just gonna let me go… you're just like him…"

"It's not it, you got that part right…" she chuckled, "I want you to tell my dad what I am now… I am a ninja and I am one of the four who constantly stops these stupid raids he sends you idiots out on… and I know that he must be roped into helping Wu again… and was promised a whole lot of power… my sister lost a good friend thanks to Wu… and I am sick of seeing how sad she looks everyday that we are not able to find him… so I am going to come to the island… quite soon, and I'm going to find out where Wu is hiding now, because my dad does know… got it?"

"SKYLAR! Come on! Let's go back home already! Misako was making soba noodles for dinner tonight and I refuse to miss that because you're taking too long to move it!" Seliel called from outside impatiently.

"Coming right now Sel!" the dark skinned girl straightened up and lowered her orange hood, "Remember what I told you… you better not forget it…" she stepped on the minion's hand on her way out. "Ugh, sorry, one dude woke up so I had to cap him in the head again… geez… they can be so resilient, ya know?"

"Ah, of course, there's always that one that wakes up".

Outside; Tanaka and Ronin were sitting with Pixal and Nya on the building, keeping an eye on the situation still and was relieved to see the other two girls walk out of there seemingly unharmed. They gave the thumbs up and everyone relaxed. "Alright then, time to go home kiddos," Ronin gestured, "Come on, I parked Rex over there, I think you earned yourselves a nice hot meal…" he pointed to his ship.

* * *

The six flung the gates open, victorious in their mission yet again. Lloyd was in a fighting stance, mirroring his father as best as he could, doing his best to focus, Misako watching with a smile on her face as she was just finished with making dinner for everyone. She looked up though when they had returned with bright smiles.

"Looks like it went well then!" she got to her feet again, ready to start serving dinner.

Lloyd decided his lesson was over, losing all his assumed focus and ran over to the girls who all picked him up and hugged him as tightly as possible, "YOU'RE BACK!" He shouted happily, "What happened?! Did you get to kick all the bad guys' butts!? I wish I could have been there to see it! You guys are so awesome! I wanna be just like you guys!"

The four laughed and set him down, he was such a chatterbox these days, always asking them to show him stuff and wanting to talk about their missions and all that, the four of them were pretty much his idols. Nya broke away though as soon as she could to retire to their room by herself to change her robes before everyone turned in for dinner.

"Hey, what's up with her? Nya's normally the first to get to the table for dinner after a mission… Did something happen out there?" Misako frowned when she saw their water ninja walk away so quickly. "I thought you said everything went great…"

Ronin sighed, "Yea… it did… it went really well, you know why she's been like that though… I'll… just talk to her later I guess… don't worry about it… I got this one…" the older sibling scratched behind his head. "But… we need to talk about all this activity with Chen… Tanaka and I are starting to suspect things…"

"Alright then, guess it's work time for us…" Garmadon folded his arms, "Hey kids, good work, go grab a noodle bowl and relax in the living room, you too Lloyd!" he told the remaining four who hurried inside to find the playstation and remotes waiting for them along with the hot bowls of soup and soba noodles that Seliel was eagerly grabbing for herself.

Garmadon, Misako, Tanaka, and Ronin all sat in the dining room while the students were having their fun in the other room, and unlike them, they would not be laughing and joking over their dinner tonight. "So… what's up?" Misako asked first, "I take it Nya is still down about hitting more dead ends with the Wu and Jay situation… right?"

Her brother nodded, "Yea… I think so anyways… at least she stays more or less focused… Tanaka and I have been making her stay behind more and allow Sel and Sky to be the ones to go in first more and more because I have no idea what goes on in that girl's head… the other three worry for Jay, but they don't let it affect them like how it can affect Nya…"

"Well, that's the trick with a bunch of teenage girls as students of Spinjitsu now isn't it?" Garmadon looked down with a small smile, "each girl is so different and complex in their own ways… they're all built differently and have their own priorities and dreams… Nya just happens to be more sensitive to the injustices made by her brother and my brother…" the sensei traced his finger around the brim of his tea cup. "The point is that for some reason, though I remain close and like a second father to her, Nya has seemed to have found trust in you… so don't screw me over and do something to hurt her… respect her trust… because it's not something she will freely hand out…"

Ronin scoffed a bit, "Come on, I'm not that heartless to do something mean to a kid like her… I may have been a criminal but I'm not pure evil…" the mercenary seemed to be offended that his brother in-law would accuse him of being capable of such actions. "Besides, she opens up with Pix and the others too; I'm not like some sole person she comes to with her problems… I'm just the dead beat uncle who stuck around with you crazy people for some weird reason…"

"Yea, she was the reason and you know it," Misako snorted a bit as she picked her tea cup up. "She talks to me about it, but you were the one that decided to take Jay in… that also might have something to do with it…" Ronin rolled his eye, ignoring her comments.

"Alright, regardless about the Nya situation right now…" Tanaka coughed, interrupting this discussion that could easily turn heated when Misako and Ronin started getting snarky at each other, "the point really here about this little raid was obviously something that Chen has been doing a lot, and keeps getting busted by the girls for it. I think it's safe to say that Chen is somehow in another agreement with Wu, and therefore… is risking a lot of men and money to help… so Wu must have promised him some kind of reward for this… obviously meaning they're in cahoots once more…"

Garmadon nodded along, "my thoughts exactly actually; it is plain and obvious that we can probably track down my brother through Chen which should be easy enough to gather an exact location… the thing is that his island is apparently heavily fortified and is littered with guards being those islands are like his own little… weird empire I guess we'll just call it…"

"Then that means that as many people as possible have to go to ensure safety and success that we get Chen to talk and tell us where Wu is…" Misako drummed her fingers on the table, playing this all through in her head. "Even if some of us caused a distraction for all the guards in the palace while others caught Chen and made him talk in some way…" she shook her head. "And at least one person should stay behind and look after Lloyd though… someone just as strong as us…"

"Or we can just get Griffin to look after him; he'd get here really fast and he and Lloyd get along well enough from what I've seen…" Tanaka trailed off when the other three were giving him weird looks, "Oh yes, he does not do so well with this type of responsibility… then who do we get exactly?" he posed the question when no one decided to give in another suggestion.

"If anything, I think Griffin would come with us if he was to be involved in this mission, we could use some speed on our side for sure when it comes to breaking into a highly guarded compound…" Garmadon scratched his cheek, "As for a babysitter… Well… I'm not sure if they'll go for it much less Lloyd go for it…"

* * *

"You're men are so slow Chen… I forgot how incompetent you really are… you couldn't even kill my brother for me all because you couldn't just listen to Ronin during the war… no wonder you got busted by the elemental masters…" Wu shook his head as the sun began to set over the island he was currently on. "By now I could be running this whole world… not to mention my nephew would never even get the chance to be born…"

"Or you can just do your own damn dirty work you know… I'm just losing men left and right because of your needs and cause for distracting Garmadon's students from looking for you…" the other man mumbled a bit, annoyed by the dark lord who twisted his arm into doing this again. "You got me thrown back here last time, how do I know you're not going to get me killed this time?"

"Because I hold up my end of the bargain… it's you who always fails your part of it," Wu scoffed, "you easily forget that we do have a common enemy… my brother who took your daughter away and set her on the good and honest path and now she absolutely despises you with all her heart… not to mention he got you arrested and banished in the first place…"

"Ugh, don't remind me of that Wu…"

The two men continued to complain about their common enemy when one of the men from the warehouse, who looked completely out of breath and kind of terrified, "You're daughter… I'm the last one… she attacked the last dealing and… and…" he leaned forward, gasping for air, "She's coming here… with her team… I don't know when or how, but she said soon… like… really soon and… and she's coming for Lord Wu as well… something about some friend being a prisoner?"

"Damnit… Skylar of course is the only person who knows the exact location and all the ins and outs of your compound… I can't believe I overlooked her…" Wu cursed, "If you somehow let her get to me… or any of her team to me… I don't think you'll like my revised deal with you so much…" he disappeared back into a shadow and slinked away to wherever he was hiding out now.

"Ugh, he's even more annoying now that he can materialize from his own shadow…" Chen rolled his eyes, "Well I don't want a bunch of ninja brats getting here anyways, I suggested you start calling everybody left on mainland back in for this one… no matter how good my daughter thinks she and her friends are, Garmadon will not be stepping foot inside my throne room…" he held his hands behind his back and walked back inside.

* * *

Ronin would do as he told his sister, he would talk to Nya and see what exactly was making her so distracted all of a sudden, though he kind of thought he had an idea that this was Jay related, she always was hard on herself when she failed at a task.

He found her in the training room, going at it on a punching bag, an angry look on her face as she beat the bag with force. _"Okay, well, note to self; don't give her a reason to punch you right now…"_

"Hey kiddo…" She didn't really respond to his greeting, just continued her punching, she was probably pretending it was her brother's face. "Okay, something's up lately the past week or two and I wanna know why, after four years, this is bothering you so much more now… Jay right?" he got right to the point because she probably was going to just keep ignoring him until he gave up and went away.

She slowed down and let out a heavy breath, standing up and turning to face him. "I don't know why this is bugging me or concerning any of you guys for that matter… but it is and I don't care because I'm going to keep training until I'm allowed to finally go and get him myself… now if you excuse me… I want to destroy this punching bag because it's red like my stupid brother's ninja robes," she gestured to the workout device. He then noticed she drew a crappy doodle of her brother's face on where she was hitting, all crumpled and torn, hanging by a piece of tape.

"Okay, how about we don't waste our energy on that and sit down for a break… sound good?" he was kind of afraid she would punch him even more now. Her dark brown eyes glared at him, but she did as requested of her, slowly untaping her hands and cast the fabric aside.

"It's almost four years to the day… and on the that day… every year… that this… whole thing happened… it just bothers me more and more with every anniversary… to have him ripped away from me, a boy I promised to be a good friend to and to help if he ever wanted a place to call home… I was so terrified at that moment… I could have done something I bet if I just… was able to get the hell up and do something for once…" she squeezed her eyes shut.

"Sooo… what? You feel like it's your sole responsibility? Your sisters feel the blame as well… You're saying you wanna save him alone because you're in love with him or somethi- OUCH!" and there it was. He held his face when he looked back at her, a stone cold look as he drew her hand back from the punch slowly.

Nya rested her chin on her knees, "I barely know him as a whole person… much less… he's never directly told me that much about himself and the rest I know from his parents the few times I met them… but we were tortured together for several weeks and shared a cell… and you bond over something like that I guess… trying to make the other forget about the pain…" she admitted. "I feel as if it was my fault he got taken… okay? You happy you just invaded my personal privacy? It doesn't affect me when I'm needed in a mission and if it did then Garmadon wouldn't even let me out of the monastery…"

"Oh come on, you can't possibly blame yourself for him getting dragged off… we were all tied down by Wu's shadow puppets and couldn't do a thing about that and I'm… at fault too okay? Kai was chasing me and Jay and that's how you got taken too," he rolled his eyes, trying to make her see that blaming herself would do nothing to help, just get her distracted. "But… I know I'm gonna get another welt for saying this but…" Nya raised an eyebrow when he smirked, "Jay and Nya sitting in a tree k-i-OW!"

As predicted, he did get punched in the face again, "You are so lucky I cannot hit you back or else my sister will murder me…" he glared at her while holding his jaw, though she briefly smiled at his reaction.

"Maybe she should kill you…" the water ninja mumbled and laid back on the mat, closing her eyes. "Then I could be rid of you already… you are just a stupid low life trying and failing to redeem himself and playing the weird, drunk uncle to us all…"

"Okay, ouch in the confidence department for me… One; I do not drink _that _much, and two; I thought you liked me for a while there…" the other man grimaced at her words. "Also excuse you, I think when Clouse cut my eye out I paid for that double cross I was pulling on Misako! I think I learned my lesson with crossing her… not going to let that one happen again…"

Nya tiredly sighed, "Of course I like you Ronin… but you do drink a lot…" the fifteen year old got to her feet and slowly walked out of the room, patting his shoulder, going to probably take a nap from what the older man was guessing by the way she seemed to drag her feet along the floor. "you don't have to keep worrying about me so much… okay?" she sadly smiled.

When he thought she was gone for sure he finished what he was saying earlier, only a little bit more quietly, "Jay and Nya sitting in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-AAGH!" he didn't even see the boot that came flying at his face until it made contact.

**Hah this ended up being way longer than I anticipated... but I guess it compresses more together instead of making filler chapters that are a waste of time... Also, as it seemed to be requested several times to me... yes, you will get some resolve betwen Ronin and Misako and basically see Ronin grow to be the actual weird uncle to everyone. And Griffin will return as well as you will get to see Kasai and Namiko again :3**

**Also, it's been four years since the last chapter in case anyone was unaware of the time skip xP**

**So thanks for reading guys! Also, remember, no update next weekend! Later! **

**~Mar**


	39. Chapter 39

Garmadon wiped his face, "Of course she would blame herself for something like that… and I was also starting to notice the pattern of the day that Wu escaped the Underworld…" he looked down, "All the more reason to get this whole thing over with then… that way Nya can be focused once more with her studies and helping me train Lloyd more… he looks up to her the most I think…"

"She's a good kid… you know how to pick em I guess…" Ronin quietly agreed, holding an ice back to his face, "… when she's not throwing her shoes at your face I mean…" Garmadon tried not to laugh at that again but was horribly failing at it. "Have you ever seen how hard she can throw? Geez!" he snapped.

"I am fully aware of her strength Ronin…" the sensei folded his hands on the table, "and trust me, she does like you, I promise, you just… tend to get on people's nerves sometimes… so we have do have to do things to your face sometimes to keep you from talking…"

"Ha ha ha… nice crack at the eye patch stupid," Ronin sneered a bit, "I wish I just had you killed right now…" he looked away, making sure Misako would not be coming in so soon to hear him say that, they were on better terms now since everything happened, but she was obviously still holding that old grudge over him, which he hated a lot naturally. "So… tomorrow's the kid's birthday right? Nya I mean…"

"Sixteen years old… it's a very important number for little girls to hit," Garmadon nodded, "your sister got the spotlight on her birthday… shame you had to miss the party my father threw for her at the monastery with the other teammates… she was so pretty in that green sweater she always wore…" he leaned on his hand.

Ronin grimaced while rolling his eyes, "Oh my gosh; please, do not reminisce about my little sister like that… it's… ugh… it's weird for me to hear, okay? Especially from you…" he looked away, trying to block the sensei's words. "It's bad enough she had to marry you of all people… at least it wasn't Wu I guess… that could have really been bad for me…" he mumbled.

"Do you hate me for marrying your sister?" Garmadon spoke up. "That she fought for me and I for her?"

"Ugh, I hate when you ask these sorts of things…" the mercenary lowered the ice pack a bit, "Mimi and I could have been a good team… we got along fine as kids, she was a really smart girl… smarter than me, but I had it all planned out… she could be the muscle when I would do dealings and it'd be great since we both loved antiques and garbage you dig up and it could have been fun too to get to do something exciting with her, she was quite a troublemaker too for a while there… she even laughed about, saying she would consider going into business with me, then would go on saying how she'd get me to join the junior archeologist program with her at the museum…"

"Oh yea, that sounds like her alright… traveling and working for the museum was her goal… and I fondly remember all the stupid tricks we'd play on the others together when she would be over…" Garmadon looked down with a sad smile, remembering that he was the reason that they couldn't travel around and do that with her. He had known Misako since before either could remember, so he knew what Ronin meant.

"Yea, I know… but then one day… maybe she was around eleven or twelve… I don't know… she kind of… changed… maybe for the better now that I look at everything… but she stopped talking to me more and more, stopped treating me like her brother and more like… I know I pick-pocketted and all that, but she would start talking about fulfilling her role as a great elemental master and how I was wasting my life wanting something different… I guess now, in hindsight, I know what had gotten into her… and that was you…"

"Okay, blaming me that your hair-brained thieving business plan failed? A bit farfetched don't you think? You can't expect that she would really do that with you… and you seemed to refuse to change and do some good with yourself until now…" the sensei shot back.

"It doesn't matter because her relationship with you outweighed anything that she and I had as siblings, no matter how good I would behave to try and get her to hang out with me, and that's something that I was protective over being that she was my best friend for a time, and my only friend at that," the brother pointed, admitting to it. "But trust me; nothing gets her motivated more than your life being in danger, I had to get her attention somehow".

"Well then, guess I know why you were perfectly fine with trying and failing to kill me in the good old days… but it's not like it'd make Misako want to follow you around and call you a brother anymore… you weren't going to change our feelings towards each other dead or alive," the younger man looked back at his brother in-law.

"I didn't care at that point, call it petty revenge… something I excel at," Ronin sipped his tea, "Ick, honestly, how do you people drink this stuff so much?" he shoved the cup away from him. "Seriously, do you have any beer or wine or something?"

Garmadon chuckled again, letting the conversation go and let things be, "sorry, any wine we have hidden away is for date night when you take the kids out of the monastery for a few hours, and after that story you told me, I'm not so inclined to share with you," he stood up and turned around to see Misako was behind them in the hallway listening, looking embarrassed now as his smile faded quickly. "Oh… Mimi?"

"So you did all of that… just because you got jealous that I didn't want to hang out with you anymore because I saw you for the bad kid you were?" she narrowed her eyes at her brother, sounding hurt. "You were going to murder the man I was in love with… even though you wouldn't be getting anything in return from me?"

Ronin looked away for a moment and then back to her, "Okay, well, when you put it that way that sounds really petty and self centered and-"

"Because it is!" she was in utter shock. "Then again, this explains so much why you hated him… even though you tried to pull the overprotective big brother card so many times as an excuse of why you said I shouldn't pursue this whole thing…" she ran a hand through her loose hair. "Even if I never met Garmadon or fell in love with him I never would have gone into the mercenary business with you! You knew that!"

The older one stood up, slamming the ice pack down on the table, "Don't you get it? I never really was going to do that, but you just pushed me away more and more and I did it in the end because it would make you mad and maybe you would pay attention to me again! Not to mention I really wanted to piss mom and dad off, but that one's besides the point…"

"What?"

"You stopped looking up to me when you started liking him Mimi… that really hurt… I felt replaced…" the two calmed down a bit. "You never even told me, I had to figure it out for myself the way you looked at him… and I thought we told each other everything when we were kids… you honestly would think I'd keep risking my life to steal stuff for the fun of it?! I was terrified! That's why I went into info trading, because I thought it was safer… and I was soooo wrong," he pointed to the eye patch.

Misako looked away, sighing, "Okay… I get it… this… whole thing was just to get my attention in the end… but you continued with it and you threatened to kill my boyfriend… and that is where you were so out of line! You sold a lot of my friends out too so I am not going to just forgive you because I made some mistakes as a little girl by hanging out with him more than you, you still had morals Ronin," she pointed.

Garmadon wiped his face, "really? Really guys, come now, let's not argue over this… that was years ago and the kids will wake up if you shout… Misako, I'm alive and fine, please, this is not going to help us stop my brother…" he could see that no matter what, they were going to ignore him now.

His wife held her gaze with her older brother for a few more moments, sighing, "You're right… I can't change that… I can only be grateful you're alive with me now… and not dead at the hand of Chen because somebody didn't have any regard for their own sister's happiness because he was selfish…" she turned away and hugged him, "I just... I really thought that you let go of any petty things like that over the past four years especially…" she let go of her husband and walked past to go to bed. "I really thought the girls were helping you soften up and learn to let go of that crap…"

Ronin let out a short breath himself when the sensei walked past him, patting his shoulder. _"Okay Ronin… time to prove that you aren't what she just said you are… starting tomorrow though because I'm really tired…" _he looked back and scratched his cheek before slowly stepping over to one of the bottom cabinets, reaching a hand down to the handle.

"Leave the wine alone Ronin!" he heard Garmadon's voice come from the next room over.

"Damn it!" he looked away, hissing and deciding to go to bed anyways to think about just how he was going to straighten this mess out again.

* * *

"I can't believe him…" Misako folded her arms, turning around abruptly to face her husband again, "Can you believe him!? And you were just… sitting there and listening to the whole thing… and you were calm about it… he tried to take you away from me because I wanted to be a good guy and…"

"Ever once invite your brother to hang out with us if we were going to the movies or something?" Garmadon posed the question. She looked confused now, "Did you ever once ask if he would like you to show him things you learned? Did you ask if he wanted to come to a lesson one day? Or did you even invite him to the wedding out of good faith as his sister?"

She grew completely silent now, "He always declined so I stopped asking him anything…" she turned to get into the bed.

"You see… even if someone declines… it might make them feel good that someone they cared about wanted them to hang out…" Garmadon placed his hands on her shoulders. "Just… something to think about Mimi… I fully acknowledged that he did not need to act so horribly to the two of us… but… maybe now, he's obviously trying to help us… just… talk to him next chance you get… he missed you… and I think you missed him too… all those horrible things are in the past…"

The couple laid down while the green eyed woman nodded a bit at his reasoning now, calming down fully, "okay… we're going to Kasai's tomorrow right? With the kids?"

"Of course, it is Nya's birthday, and she's going back home for once, whether she likes it or not," Garmadon yawned, closing his eyes with a smile on his face. "And yes, I think you should personally invite your brother to come along with us since we both know that he's quite attached to Nya the most now".

"Right…" she turned on her back and stared at the ceiling. _"He's helped us this far… maybe I was a bit harsh… maybe we should just start over already… it's been long enough… I could use a fresh start with something…" _she finally fell asleep.

* * *

The black haired man opened the door, soot on his face as he was just working in the little workshop attached to his home. "Garmadon?" Kasai blinked but smiled again, "It's been too long… is Nya here? She never visits in person and what she says over the phone is little… I really miss my little girl… she's doing good right? She isn't hiding something?" he tried to look behind to see if the girl was with them.

"She's been… dealing with some issues over the past few years is all… she's been very distracted by training, it's almost all she thinks about right now really…" Garmadon let out a sigh. "But I think she'll be happy to say in detail what those issues are herself…" he looked over his shoulder, nodding his head impatiently. "No, you have to…" he snapped quietly.

Ronin rolled his eyes and shoved the now sixteen year old in front of the group and she gave a little smile. "Sorry for making you worry dad…" she wiped her eyes as he wrapped his arms around her tightly.

"You got taller," he chuckled, looking down at his hugging daughter. "Well, come on in, I'll tell Namiko you guys are all here!" he greeted the other three students and then Lloyd as well.

"You seem to be doing well with the whole son is trying to take over the world thing and kill people thing…" Ronin commented before his sister nearly punched him in the face from the way she looked at him. "What?! It's true!"

Misako coughed, "I'm sorry about my brother… he still needs to get a filter for that mouth of his…" she quietly apologized for his insensitive comment.

"Of course… _that…_" Kasai sighed a bit and sat down, "I honestly don't know what got into him… I tried so hard to help him when he was getting picked on and when tried to work in the shop with me… he was always so impatient and never did as I instructed and was so angry when he messed up… I mean… I wasn't that bad… you know?"

Nya leaned her head on his shoulder, quietly listening to the others around her. Seliel was the first to sit next to the younger girl and hugged her bit. "Well, we're going to make sure that we won't kill him for you guys when we finally get to him and the others… wherever they are…"

"That is if he can even be reached at this point," Kasai chuckled sadly, "Oh boy… this has been really hard on you… even though you don't say much, they told me about that Jay boy… don't lose hope on that so fast princess," he ruffled her hair as she blushed.

Namiko finally came out and hugged everybody hello with a big smile on her face. "So, any other reason you're here other than to bring us our daughter on her sixteenth birthday?" she could tell in the sensei's eyes there was something hidden there that they were waiting to ask about.

Misako let out a breath, "Well, the thing is that, tomorrow we leave for… Chen's Island… and all of us need to go… therefore… you guys don't have to do this because it would only paint more targets on you for Wu to come and attack you again… we only trust you two to watch our son for us while we're gone…" she quietly was saying.

"What!?" the nine year old shouted angrily. "I wanna go too! I'm a ninja! I wanna go and fight the bad guys like Nya and Seliel and Skylar and Pixal!"

"And then we have the chosen brat over here whining about it too," Ronin snarked off before the four girls looked like they were going to tear him apart for saying that. "Well he's acting like one right now, do you blame me? I didn't have kids for a reason". He sighed when Lloyd hugged his leg, "Okay okay Lloyd, you're very cute… I get it…"

"Of course we'll take care of him for you all!" Namiko shouted, "like I care if Wu would try to come after us!?" she looked back at her husband who nodded in agreement, "We'll watch him for as long as you need us too and protect him with our lives if necessary!"

Garmadon looked relieved that this was settled so fast. "I really can't thank you two enough, honestly," he pulled Lloyd over and held him closer because he seemed to be getting antsy. "It would only be a few days, I promise". He assured them again.

"Oh enough of that! We're like family after all!" Kasai waved his hand, "You take such good care of my daughter it's only right I would do the same for you two and Lloyd!" he looked down at Nya who was hugging him gratefully, "Plus I know she feels better that her brother would be in our hands… huh?"

"Yea dad," she laughed a bit, "All four of us would appreciate it," she put an arm around the others' shoulders.

"Now that the business has been settled…" he got up off the couch, "I have something just for you," he bopped her nose lightly, "one of the reasons I was so eager to see you today…"

He hurried into the back while her mother was smiling warmly, "Since you seem to be free today… you should all stay over for a while… I didn't know if Nya would be spending her birthday here… but I had made a cake earlier all the same… I'll go get it right now for you guys," she happily went into the kitchen while Kasai came back in with a sheathed weapon.

"Consider it… your sword now… yours and yours alone…" he held it out to her.

"Daddy…" she was pushed to her feet by Skylar and Seliel with Pixal cover her mouth, excited for her present now. "This… was yours… wasn't it?" she looked at the curved blade with the familiar engravings on it. "Back when you fought with sensei in the war…"

"I fixed it up since it almost got snapped in half… and… I kind of made some new engravings…" he slid the blade out so that he could show her.

"To the boy who was like my son; my apprentice and blacksmith prodigy… from master Hiroshi Attori…" she read off and looked down more. "From my surrogate father to my daughter, my pride and my joy, may you never fear to do what must be done…" she looked back up. "You gave me the sword your master made for you?"

The others were watching silently, even Ronin looked touched and that was a rare thing to actually see.

"I'm sure that if Hiroshi had met you now, he would say the same… the last time he saw you, you were just born…" he held a hand to her head. "Not to mention he would agree and say that you would be an amazing blacksmith… because you were when you still aspired to be one like me…"

"I still wanna be a blacksmith dad…" she tilted her head away, feeling very embarrassed now by all of this. Her friends all had these strange, dorky smiles on their faces as she slid her new katana back into its sheath. "But thanks… I'm happy I came with sensei today…"

"Okay! Enough of this! The cake is still warm and there's enough for everyone to have!" Namiko walked back, clapping her hands to get them all to move.

Nya set the sword aside, feeling more confident in herself than she was before as she ran into the next room to get the first piece of cake.

Before Ronin could step into the dining room, Misako stopped him, "Hey…" he looked behind to see her standing there, arms folded, "I'm willing to push things aside if you really start trying to be… nice…r…" she had to think about the right word. "And I'll stop being so hard on you if you do… deal?"

The older one laughed a bit, "Heh, well, you know I can never refuse such a good deal…"

Misako rolled his eyes and walked past him quietly, the air seeming to be lifted, for now of course, they still had to break into a fortress and locate Wu, and that would not be so easy to accomplish.

**Hah, I lied, I'm updating this one tonight too...**

**TBH, I was gonna cut the entire first 2,000 words of this because I thought it was a stupid argument... then I remembered spats with my little brother and... it's often stupid things we argue about when we do fight... so way 2 go at my brain, gotta love writing at 2 in the morning and editing it when your actually sane during the day hah...**

**Just a as a general thing here... this is so not Ninjago related but... I may have taken on another project... and that is doing an animation project surrounding my favorite album ever; Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys by MCR... ye... I'd be animating... and singing... and I'm writing a script... and I might be making the script into a fan fic in the distant future hah... yea, so look at me over working myself with projects!**

**Okay, enough of that, I... actually don't know about an update next week hah... yea, I have nothing written for the next chapter, oops... though I know for sure that I do not want to drag things out any longer than I have to, like I've been telling you guys for ages. I got stuffs to do and I can't procrastinate like what I have been doing a lot lately...**

**And I'm done bagging on myself... **

**Before I forget, to answer the anon that asked why I chose to skip in four years time; I felt like it. Does there have to be a reason? I wanted a time skip and I picked four years. I can't be dragging this thing out to a 100 plus chapters like what happened to First Masters of Spinjistu... but why do I get the feeling you all would enjoy that very much? **

**Okay, I'm done here, thanks for reading guys! See ya next week hopefully!**

~Mar


	40. Chapter 40

"Why so quiet Kai?" Wu questioned his most loyal student who seemed silent, like his mind was wandering off today as he looked outside at the dark sky.

The brunette teenager looked up, blinked, registering that he was being questioned, "Um, nothing sir… I just remembered that it was my sister's birthday is all, nothing important…" he turned away, wondering if Wu would question him further on this. "I do not miss her if you were going to ask me next, I do think she is some self-righteous dingbat for trying to stand up to me…"

Wu shrugged at his words, "Honestly Kai, stop being so defensive, I was only asking why you were so quiet… you're normally quite loud and eager to train and such… better work on that paranoia of yours…" he walked past the seventeen year old nonchalantly. "Why don't you go check in on our… guest since it is almost dinner time… then maybe find Cole and Zane who were supposed to be training outside…"

The fire ninja looked up and nodded, walking down the hallway of the strange house that was built into the side of a mountain in the Dark Realm they all called home now. "Hey loser…" he snapped when he opened the door, letting just a little bit of light inside. "Wu told me to check on you because you might get hungry or something… I don't know; it's not like you eat much anyways when we do come by…" Jay was keeping silent though, "Meh, whatever… it's not like you do much anyways…"

"She's coming for me you know…" he then heard Jay croak from his corner. "She's been coming since you dragged me here with you guys…" He said it like it was a fact, not full of hopefulness or anything like that.

Kai snorted a bit hearing that from him, "Where we are, nobody can find you, don't you get it you idiot? You're stuck here forever until you finally snap and become one of us for good… because we sure as hell won't be giving you up anytime soon," he smirked a bit when the auburn haired one shut his mouth.

"But Nya is gonna come here, she'll find a way… she always does… no matter what the odds, she and the girls are going to tear through dimensions looking for me until they make it here… and she's gonna beat you up… I promise you that Kai…" Jay said even more quietly right when Kai was about to slam the door shut on him. "And then you'll be the one to finally beg for mercy when I'm free to use my powers on every single one of you… so you can know how it feels to be torture by the lightning…"

The darker haired boy's eyebrows rose at the slightly psychotic sounding threat, Jay's blue eyes almost looked to be glowing in the dark room… but it wasn't like he could use his powers now, Wu made sure he would remain too weak to break out and fry him and the others and make his getaway from them. "And I'll make sure that you know exactly how it feels to be me… I can promise you that…"

"Meh… weirdo… what a nut case…" Kai scowled a bit, slamming the door and turning the lock, while shaking his head more, forgetting everything the other boy told him… it wouldn't be like a little lock would stop Jay if he really did end up recovering all of his energy to break out of there.

It had been like this for a while now, Kai started to believe that he just snapped after his first year being stuck with everyone again, but now he was just... odd, not exactly a snap case or anything like that, he would just ask the same questions all the time, like where Nya was or if he could see his parents, when could he go home, he didn't even seem afraid of any of them like he used to be… and now he was making these eerie threats more and more to him especially.

All Kai knew now was that he was going to be defiant in helping them, which was why Wu had recently brought up a new plan for them to follow, and that was finding a place called the Dark Island where they could gather some legendary army and march into battle against the people of Ninjago, undefeatable to all who would try to stand in their way, even his all powerful brother and his little students.

The fire ninja smirked at that thought, kind of excited for it all to happen as he walked out the front door to see Cole and Zane fighting off some more cragglings again, the usual stuff, nothing new here. "Oh boy what a day will it be when we finally get to rule Ninjago… and finally Nya can watch me be the top dog for once… it'll be so much fun seeing her as a slave to Wu… after we kill her precious little sensei and green ninja in front of her that those dumb sissies who call themselves ninja of course… they're all embarrassing to us… weaklings…"

* * *

Nya narrowed her brown eyes as their small boat reached the docks of Chen's port, seeing multiple guards move in, ready to arrest them when they would dock being it was evident they were not flying one of their sails. The black haired girl shook her head, feeling her dark hair brush her cheeks as she raised her arms up high over her head. "This is for Jay you scum…" she murmured to herself as she held her hands up.

As she did this motion, alongside their boat, two huge waves started to rise up around them, crashing against the docks and sweeping all the guards into the ocean where they flailed around, shocked at what just happened to them. She let out a tired breath, placing a hand on the side of the boat while she regained balance.

"Nice job Nya! That looked amazing seeing their scared faces!" Griffin laughed as he helped Tanaka with the boarding plank so they all could get off easily. "Looks like they don't even know what hit them! Which is my job so watch it there," he jabbed a finger at her.

"Or maybe your job is to just be annoying…" Neuro commented, walking past them with the girls. "Honestly Griffin… let us stay focused, we could get killed if you do not watch it!"

"Enough of your chattering; by now someone will know that we're here for sure and will send more of the guards on their way, so let's go right now! Move it!" Garmadon walked past the two quickly, snapping off orders at everyone else around him, "remember the plan; don't deviate unless something you did not plan for happens! Got it?"

"Yes sensei, I'll make sure we stay on course," Seliel pulled Skylar along since they were teaming up while Nya and Pixal took a different route. The red head frowned a bit, looking at her sisters for a moment and sighed, running off with them first, her bow caster at ready.

"Ready then?" Misako held her husband's arm as Griffin, Tanaka, and Neuro headed in next.

"As ready as I'll be to get this whole thing over with…" he shook his head and started on forward with the other masters who accompanied them on this mission. "The safest room is the throne room of course… so we need to hit it hardest there… and then use any means necessary to get him to talk…"

Ronin laughed, "oh I think I got that part covered, it's the whole reason why I signed up for this little trip!" he gripped his obsidian glaive tightly in hand. "Time for some payback I think hehe…" he darkly chuckled to himself.

"Just don't kill him before we get answers please," Misako sighed in annoyance to Ronin's attitude over this mission, knowing him, he probably would deviate and kill Chen at some point during this whole thing. She then turned back to the path ahead, "I just wonder why he seemed so ready for us to come here…"

* * *

The oldest girls of the team zipped down their corridor, the red head looking down the whole time they entered through those gates, lips pressed together tightly as she glanced back up to see Seliel's backside. "Sorry about this Sel, but I gotta do this one…" she whispered.

"Wait, Sky, did you say something?" Seliel blinked, looking over her shoulder to see that amber ninja was gone from behind her, nowhere to be seen. "What- Skylar?!" she looked around more but couldn't see her anywhere. "Sky!" she growled loudly, knowing that she had to keep going to meet up with Pixal and Nya after they cleared as many guards as they could.

Skylar let out a tired breath as she looked back down the hallway to make sure she wouldn't follow after her. "Good… alright, they're busy with sensei's plan…" she nodded and stood upright again, running through several more doors and hallways, remembering her old home like the back of her hand. "Kay… so… safe room isn't in the center of this dumb place… it's in the west wing… of course dad would do that…" she smirked, kicking the door in.

"Knew you'd be the first to find me, you still remember this place… cute… So where're your friends?" Chen laughed, "Or did you just decide to do me in yourself without letting them know?"

She lowered her foot and stood upright, fingers curling back into fists, glaring at him through her mask, "Hey dad… long time no see, huh?" she lifted her hand up and yanked down the fabric covering her mouth, she kept the most neutral face she could. "So I see you got my message…"

Nya frowned when Seliel rounded the corner, alone. "Um… Skylar?" she raised an eyebrow, wondering what the explanation here would be. It wouldn't be the first time the red head did something irrational while one a mission, but if she ran off…

"Ii don't know… guess she just… ran off… no surprise there though… right? She was silent the entire boat ride over and I know how much she loathes this place…" the smoke ninja pulled her helmet off and looked to Pixal, "All clear then? Any word from the othe-"

At that exact moment, a guard fell off the balcony from above, almost hitting the three girls below on the ground floor. "Sorry guys! Anybody get hit? We all good?" Griffin shouted his questions of concern.

"Nah, we're good Griffin!" Nya looked up, shouting out. "Go find Neuro and Tanaka and sensei for us and tell them Chen's not in the throne room at all but we're still looking around!"

"Yes, that seems to be the last guard here, perhaps this was all a ridiculous way to distract the rest of us… from what, I do not know…" Pixal nodded, lowering her own mask. "I recommend we locate Skylar before she does something irrational, she has deviated as it is and I think we all know she must be looking to do something to her father… and she has planned this out too…"

"Good point Pix; let's move before sensei has a chance to do her in for us when all of this is over and she ruins our plans…" Nya agreed with her sisters, anxious to not lose their only lead to finding Jay again.

* * *

"So I heard something about Wu having a boy in custody… so who's the lucky boy that caught my baby girl's eye? He better not be some idiot…" Chen teased her casually.

"Ugh, no, not for me, for Nya, she's the one that likes him so much…" Skylar almost sounded to be in disgust by the very thought of her with that boy. "Anyways, I know you know where to find him… so you're going to tell me where I can find them… and I won't kill you; got it?"

Chen laughed more at his daughter's threats, "Okay pumpkin, how about we just sit down and you hand your mask in… you know you don't really belong with those girls… do you?" His daughter's turquoise eyes looked away at his words, "I know you better than you think sweetie, you're impulsive, heavy handed… the other girls have more finesse and are inclined to obey their sensei and they obviously must get treated better… he really only wanted you for your powers Sky… that's the only reason why you're here right now…"

"You weren't even a father to me though… Garmadon… he… I know that he cares about me like I'm his own daughter… same with the others… I have a home and family with them all… I know that's where I belong…" she looked up, "You were never there though all my years growing up with you… Clouse was the one who took care of me… who's to say you're not the one who wants me for my powers?" she took a step back, feeling for an arrow in the small quiver she kept strapped to her belt.

"You don't know what you're saying sweetie, put your crossbow down now why don't you?" Chen kept making his attempts to manipulate her, but she still seemed to back away from him more, wondering what his game was with all of this. Why did he want her to seek him out on her own and caused so much distraction for the others.

"You know…" she did lower the weapon a little bit, "I understand now…" she swallowed, quietly saying, "Clouse meant something when he said that I'll be used for my power…" she raised the weapon again and her face turned into an angry scowl, "Because like him, you just want me for you empire, one more powered soldier against all your enemies, well I'm not going to be that anymore! I'm not going to help you tear the world apart…"

* * *

Griffin zipped back into front of Garmadon, looking to be out of breath just a bit, "No sign of her… the place is pretty much cleared but I know we're gonna have more company soon! What are we gonna do G?"

"I'm thinking!" Garmadon shouted at the others who were all looking at him with expectations. "… wait…" he stopped, "This place is mirrored to be like the old dojo back when I was training… and I remember seeing blueprints for… something else..." he frowned. "West wing, let's move it right now!"

"Good! I'm bored of fighting dumb grunts!" Ronin laughed, raising his arms up. Nya and Misako just rolled her eyes at him together.

"I bet that's where Skylar is too then…" Misako huffed a bit as the ran through the confusing hallways, behind her husband who seemed to know where he was going now. "I hope she doesn't do anything to him… revenge isn't the way and we need Chen alive… personal feelings aside…"

* * *

Chen and Skylar slowly stepped, circling the other, keeping close eyes on every movement the other one made. He looked so calm and casual, she was the one who was nervous that he would have something up his sleeve; she could feel beads of sweat slowly dripping down her face as they talked back and forth.

"Your sensei does the same thing to you that you claim I do, he's just harnessing your power for his own personal agenda you know, don't be so blind to that, you should make your own choices sweetie, I always said you were a smart little girl…" Chen raised a hand a bit; afraid she was actually going to fire that thing now.

"He was there for me in ways that you could even comprehend… he always was… every struggle I had, he guided me and never pointed me in a bad direction… I may hate following stupid orders from time to time… I may be the rebellious one out of the group… but he makes me feel like I belong where I am…"

Chen rolled his eyes, "And even with your tough girl façade, you still show the signs of a weak and helpless little girl… what good is all the training he gives you if you're not even allowed to use your powers… I see the way you avoid using them, my men always say that you never fight with magic…"

His daughter shrugged a bit, "maybe I just like a good all bow and arrow…"

"Or maybe it's because even Garmadon is afraid of your power…" Chen tried his best to rile her up more, but she kept holding back. "You're my daughter Skylar, you always wanted absolute power… same as me… only you were born with a gift, and you should use it to help someone who encourages and understands you to use it…"

"Shut up!" She finally growled at him, "I have a life now that I'm with him and my sisters and… I'm even free to leave if I wanted… and he made that very clear from the moment I met him… and I don't ever want to leave… I'm not some slave; I'm not a prisoner like I was with you… I may have my orders, I may be encouraged to not rely on my magic, but I am not a slave!"

She could feel her finger tensing up even more as her arms started to shake more, angered by his words and accusations about her, but she knew to aim carefully. "You never knew a thing about me… and you don't even have the right to be called my father… because I deserved so much better than you! I won't kill you… but maybe I can torture you enough to beg for it!"

"SKYLAR!"

She flinched, her arm jerked to the side and her finger pulled reflexively the trigger.

**Tbh, I've been debating about doing this one every other week, heh... idk, I guess working on the other stuff, it's hard to find a balance... for some reason though, this one was a struggle to write... I think the next one might come to me more easily, lol, but yea... **

**Also, look, a slightly insane Jay and yes, I will be showing you guys more and more what the past 4 years was for our little girls... so far I showed Nya was the one to overwork herself, slowly starting to cut off ties and have a main focus to drive her, Skylar turned out to be the rebellious and unpredictable one, after all, she technically is adopted and has a horrible repor with her biological father and she just wants to fit in find her own way to do things... Sel and Pix will have more about them too... all of them, I promise character development in coming chapters...**

**But look, I left you guys with a cliff hanger again... hah... yep... next weekend we'll find out if Chen lives or dies... hahaha...**

**Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this update :3 Until next time~ later! :)**

**~Mar**


	41. Chapter 41

Skylar whipped around to see her family right there, looking shocked at her for disobeying the plan laid out for her and went off seeking Chen out on her own… then again, Garmadon wasn't all that surprised in her, he half expected the young teenager to go out and do this on her terms rather than wait for them all. The red head lowered the bow caster all the way, swallowing hard. She could hear her father behind her, he got stuck alright…

"Shut up, it's just your shoulder…" she finally snapped off aggressively, still not turning to look at him now, completely apathetic to him getting shot by her hand. "Go ahead; I'm going to accept my punishment in full… I'm not sorry though I did it…" she stalked past the others to stand behind them, "he's all yours… I think he got my message though about what happens when you're a crappy dad and helping the enemy…"

Garmadon wiped his face tiredly, deciding to not even address what she did for everyone's sake. He then turned, looking back to his old master, "Well… looks like we meet yet again face to face… kind of funny for someone who should be exiled and not making trouble for us…"

Chen raised an eyebrow, "yea, right; and speaking of faces, your face doesn't seem to look too good… I see the scar Clouse left last time we saw you in Spinjago… right before you kidnapped my girl-"

"Invited her to make something of herself… unlike her pathetic and cruel father…" Garmadon quickly corrected, holding a hand out so Ronin wouldn't dare take another step forward to kill him, because he would. "This place, believe it or not, is taken down Chen… it's over, you're going to be thrown in a cell like what we should have done with you years ago… no more little exiled empire for you".

Misako slammed the end of her weapon in the tiled floor, "Tanaka, Neuro, and Griffin are all doing the rounds as we speak… the authorities showed up minutes ago and we're taking all of you in this time… like Garmadon said, it's over Chen… so how about we make a little deal so that we can ensure you won't get executed by the high court?"

Chen let out a loud laugh, "A deal? What the hell kind of a choice do I have here?" he looked at all of them, finally pulling the arrow from his shoulder, "Doesn't matter anymore… Wu probably doesn't care enough to come and break me out… he used up my well of knowledge about the island… it's over for me I-"

"Island?" Misako asked, interested now, looks like he would be good for something besides telling them where Wu was hiding out.

"Ugh, you all know that stupid legend about the Island of Darkness where the root of all evil sleeps and blah blah blah, you get it it's dark, it's evil, I know a lot about it and that's where Wu is trying to get to next!" he rolled his eyes more at their lack of knowledge.

Nya had enough of this though and stomped forward, pointing the tip of her blade at him, "We didn't come to ask questions about where Wu will be… we want to know where he is right now…" she sneered, enjoying the surprised look on his face, "And you're going to tell me right now where we can find them… or I'll be your judge and executioner…" she threatened.

Chen looked past the others to see his daughter, "Oh… so this is the friend in love with the wimpy prisoner you were talking about…" Nya pushed the blade more against his chest. The adults didn't seem to make much of a move to stop her, even though her face grew darker, though Garmadon was struggling to trust her restraint here. "Shadow Realm, near the Mountain of Madness, there was an old fortress there by the mountain he took over and uses now…"

"Thank you… scum," Nya sheathed her sword and turned on a heel to walk out with her sisters, "Now all that's left is opening a portal to get there… just like what Wu did when he escaped with the boys… I'm sure Garmadon and Misako will have an idea about what to do…"

Ronin looked rather upset he didn't get to do anything to Chen, he settled for kicking him to the floor to put binders on his wrists, "Consider yourself lucky the kid didn't kill you… either of them in case you were wondering… Nya will do anything for her friends and Sky just outright hates you hah," he dryly laughed as he yanked his enemy along, satisfied that he at least got to kick him around a teeny bit.

Misako watched the girls from behind; more worry appeared on her face when she saw the determined look in the girls' eyes. Her husband noticed right away. "I know… I see it too… they're just growing up and-"

"You know that's not what you see…" she quietly told him. "Skylar has a wild streak, Nya; a dark and most dangerous side… Seliel struggles to keep a hold but who knows what her true breaking point even is… then Pixal we don't even know could become corrupt given a moment of a tough call…" Misako wiped her face, closing her eyes for a moment as they walked on.

"The past four years has been such a toll… I understand that more than anyone else Mimi… I wish there was more I could do for them but they just don't listen like the used to-"

"No… it is not the fact that they do not listen… you have done a fine job with them… but I know distrust when I see it… and that's something you need to unlearn… and soon," the smaller woman looked away from the taller man. "The funny part is that you can't even see it…"

"I trust them… of course I do-"

"You trust them to run the errands, to make sure Lloyd is learning his basics… but do you trust them to perform a request without Tanaka or my brother to watch over them? Like they're still children?" she posed the question next, "There is an unsettling shakiness in faith… and the only way to correct it is if we truly put our trust in them… I think Skylar thinks you couldn't trust her to locate her father and disable him without her killing him in the process."

"Hey, she had that thing aimed for his head!"

"It was aimed for his side and you're shouting that surprised her could have led to a worse injury than just the shoulder and could have nothing now on where Wu is… now come on… we need to debrief and take the next step to the Dark Realm before Wu can figure out what just happened…"

"I know… you're right…"

The red eyes on the wall they past vanished as soon as he heard enough. The dark lord turned to his three remaining loyal students, he looked angry, but not nearly as angry as he could have been hearing such news of his brother catching up to him at long last. The three were bent on one knee; awaiting for what he was about to say to them.

"The good thing is… I now know where to find the island… it is only a matter of choosing the right portal to get to the hidden place, but it's possible," Wu addressed, "The second issue of this idea is ensuring that Jay will not escape while going…"

"We have him, he won't be any trouble getting out of here," Zane spoke up with confidence.

Wu raised an eyebrow at the bold insurance he was just given, "Okay then… Be prepared to leave within the next few hours, we still have time, and I must use it wisely here… there is still one more thing I need to do before we leave… since I know at some point my brother will bring the golden weapons to me once more in battle…" he held his hands behind his back and walked past them all.

* * *

When the three boys opened the locked door, Jay started tiredly laughing, leaning against the wall, eyes closed, but smiling this time, "Heh… heheh…" he started, "I told you they'd be coming… and they might as well be here already… give it up jerks… they're gonna kick your butts real good this time… ya hear me?"

Kai rolled his dark eyes, "Ugh, Cole, get him to shut up already…" Cole walked over and kicked the boy in the side, not hard, but enough to make the lightning ninja grunt in pain, "Thanks…" Kai coughed, "Now blue jay… we're moving, isn't that great? No more cold little room like this… yep, we're going to an island… and from there… we'll rule the world…"

Jay opened his pale and dull blue eyes when he heard that, his strange laughter silenced. Kai smirked, he knew, Jay was now truly afraid.

* * *

Misako held her tongue as the girls asked many questions about what she was up to with the old tea pot and the leaves she was crushing up. She wanted to get this over with already and the making of this tea was something not to be taken lightly, "okay… I'm almost done… just… you'll see when we use it what it's for exactly… a relative of mine showed me how this works… she's in the tea business naturally… she prided herself with this one."

"Fire's already sis," Ronin walked over with the other elemental masters with her. "Whenever you're done with that mumbo jumbo tea crap you're working on".

Seliel frowned, "Uncle Tanaka… what's this for exactly?"

The tallest one there placed a hand on her head and looked at the steeping tea, "It is called Traveler's Tea, and depending on what you put in it, it will take you to a different realm… the one we are going to is a shadow one… the Dark Realm… and that is where Wu will be waiting for us I am most certain of…"

Pixal seemed intrigued now, "That is odd, I was not programmed with that knowledge… I am assuming this realm is quite dark?"

"Not a sun ray to be seen in the sky," Neuro answered this time. "Only the darkest hearted creatures can survive there for more than a week without going insane… let alone years…"

"Just like my brother then… only he could live in a place like that I bet…" Nya grimaced more, getting to her feet next when Misako held the teapot over the flames, turning from orange to a sickly green color.

The green eyed woman looked around at everyone there, her brother, her friends, her husband, and their students, they were all here for them, to protect Lloyd and Ninjago from the likes of Wu and his followers, to save the innocent Jay Walker from their clutches. "So… hope you're all ready for this… it won't be easy… I promise you all…"

"Just do it Mimi… we'll roll with the punches…let's just go through and get it over with…" Ronin let out a tired breath, not really wanting to do this, yet here they were, going through a portal into darkness.

It was strange, like stepping through a thick fog. The air was stale and you could barely make out a thing around you it was so dark and covered in shadows. Pixal adjusted rather quickly by turning her eyes on to glow brighter than usual.

"Is everyone okay? Everyone there?" Garmadon asked, quickly finding everyone else that went through with them. "Okay… now… the mountain should be this way…" he led on.

"Hey, how do you know how to get around this place?" Seliel asked. "I mean… you don't seem shocked by it or anything…"

The sensei was silent before answering, "For one, the easy explanation is that this place is just a reverse reflection of our world… the other reason… it's not so easy to explain… is just hard to admit but, the short story is… I once… came here on a bet with my friends…" he coughed.

Misako and Tanaka started snickering as he told this. "Don't forget guys, before he was this ever wise and all knowing sensei… he was a real idiot back in the day, don't you ever let him convince you otherwise…" the small woman looked over her shoulder at the four trailing behind; they seemed to be laughing.

"I'm sorry, you were the one that dared me Misako… and Tanaka was the one that acquired Traveler's Tea in the first place to do this bet," he shot back in his defense. "Now come on, quickly, before they get a chance to get away… this place has so many weird portals and you can get lost really easily if you don't pay attention to things…"

Though their minds were on this quest, they still couldn't help but wonder how Lloyd was doing right now; probably all antsy that he was missing out on the 'fun' they were having, but Kasai and Namiko would be entertaining him with joy, missing when they had little kids around the house like this.

"My scanners are picking up a huge stone mass many yards in front of us along with several life forms that appear to be human," Pixal stopped in her tracks. "Please, do be cautious when moving forward from here," she warned the others. "I am also getting a high electrical reading… and it seems it's being moved by three others".

"Jay! I bet they're getting out of here! We gotta hurry~" Nya gasped and started running forward.

"NYA! Wait!" Ronin shouted, running after her now as well.

* * *

Jay was practically being dragged out of the fortress by Cole and Kai when Zane stopped them now. "Someone is coming I believe…" he quietly told the others. "We must quietly move to the west right now and see Wu about the portal…"

"NYA! I'M RIGHT HERE!" Jay shouted before Cole clapped a hand over his mouth, though he continued his muffled screaming for the others who had come to save him.

"Shut up!" Kai hissed angrily. Through the darkness though, something tackled him out of nowhere. It was fast and strong, but only when he saw the silver glint of a familiar sword did he realize who they were dealing with right now. "Nya!" he growled, rolling out of the way from her swing as quickly as possible.

Cole pretty much dropped Jay to the ground to help defend the fire master. Jay laughed more though when the other girls joined in on the party as he laid, sprawled out on the ground. Nya ducked down and let her friends take over as she kneeled before Jay, smiling with tears in her eyes, she found him alright.

"Whoa…" Jay said; eyes wide in bewilderment. "You're really pretty…"

Nya laughed a bit through her tears as she covered her mouth, hugging him, "It's really you…" she started shaking more. "I have you Jay… I promise I do this time… and we're not going to let Wu take you from us again… you're coming home to the monastery… and you will never have to get beaten up or be alone ever again…"

The dirty faced ninja breathed tiredly into her shoulder, enjoying her affection and accepting her promise. "I knew you'd come for me…" he croaked out, finally feeling like he could fully relax without a care in the world, even as the battle around him raged on, it was like they were in their own little bubble for a minute. "I told them you would…"

Nya pulled away, nodding, "Yes… yes that's right; I said I would and I did…" she held her hand to his cheek. "Now, I need to make sure they back the hell off," she jumped to her feet, clutching her sword again while her senseis came to their side. Jay laid back on the ground, too weak to sit up on his own.

Kai clenched his teeth, knowing that in less than five minutes they were supposed to be meeting Wu, "Let's move it!" he shouted at the other two.

"But we're going to just let Jay get-"

"I said MOVE!" Kai turned to Zane and yelled in his face, running in the opposite direction.

No one seemed to care though that they were going to get away with Wu to the Dark Island, right now, they had Jay back, and that was a victory in itself. Tanaka picked the weak teenager up and carried him back with the others, they would pick up Lloyd, and they would all get to go home.

Jay liked the thought of home; it was something he wanted since he got stuck in the Underworld with Nya. He finally did make his choice; he would be one of them.

**So I figured to just get this over with and post it today. This one basically wrote itself last night lol. Idk, it all just came to me, Ii also have next week's update which is good. Black King won't be coming until the weekend though, I'm almost done with that chapter, not quite and I have errands to do today lol**

**Anyways... yay, Jay joined the team, ain't that swell? I guess it's kind of like when Nya was considered an official 'part of the team' when she became a ninja. ... now there's six? See what I did there? Lol be prepared for a downtime chapter in the aftermath of all of this... I hope you enjoyed your Jaya moment right there...**

**Okay, I'm just gonna wrap this for this week! Hopefully at some point I'll manage to get to two updates a week because I'm estimating 20ish more chapters, probably less if I don't have 'fillers', ya know? Chances are that from here on out I'm aiming for even longer chapters. Like, a minimum of 3,000 words, which this almost was that long, like Black King, I never make the newer chapters any shorter than 3,500 words...**

**Okiedoke guys, see ya later! Thanks for reading!**

**~Mar**


	42. Chapter 42

Jay opened his eyes to see that he was in a place that was no longer dark and freezing. It was rather warm and he was in a soft and comfortable bed, wrapped in sheets and feeling clean again after so long, he was even wearing all new clothes and he saw across the room, there was a brand new set of ninja robes that were completely different than the ones Wu made him dress in, there was more blue in it, he liked it, it was less uniform.

He shifted his gaze to the right, away from the robes resting on the chair to see Nya was watching him, sitting on top of her desk with a kind smile on her face. He then realized he was in her bed and he quickly made a move to get up, feeling weird about it all of a sudden.

"No no, please, I wanted you to have my bed, I volunteered it," Nya held her hand out to see if he would stop. "You haven't had a proper bed in years… it was only right… we don't have another bed yet so for now, please, take mine," she got to her feet. "I was on the couch… which was perfectly fine, it's just as comfortable," she assured.

His eyes started watering though all the same as he laid back on his backside, a hand to his face. His whole body was bruised and ached; he had been through so much, yet here he was now, in the company of good people who would treat him right from now on.

"It'll be okay again… maybe not today… or tomorrow… but it will be…" Nya sat on the edge of the bed, taking his other hand. "I'm sorry it took so long to find you… better late than never I guess… right?" she could feel her eyes watering as well, getting emotional about this, she tried to will the tears to go away, but it was no use, a couple leaked out.

"And to think I thought you couldn't be any prettier than you already were…"

Nya turned with surprise when he said it quietly, more or less to himself, but loud enough for her to hear him; though she thought her hearing was starting to go now. "I… what?" she blinked, laughing it off just a little bit, but flattered all the same.

The night before, he said she was cute, but she swore that was just because of sleep deprivation and the fact he was very incoherent when he saw her for the first time in four years… then she remembered that upon first meeting when they were children, when Jay was sent to kill Lloyd as a baby, he called her cute as well when she pinned him to the floor, twisting his arm and treated him just like any other enemy…

Finding love and having looks were never the first on Nya's mind though, ever, to hear that from someone else who recognized that she was strong and was their savior and constantly told their captors that she would be coming for them… that almost conflicted in her mind, being both...?

The auburn haired teenager sat up more, squeezing her hand tighter, "I waited every single day… hoping it would be the last day I would have to stay down there… hoping that you would be there for me… to finally drag back here because you always had faith in me… just like I should have done from the start of this… I never should have ran away in the first place Nya… I'm sorry I did that to you… you must have felt horrible when I left…"

The two tightly hugged each other now, but Nya was still surprised by his words all the same, not believing what she was hearing still. "Jay… what are you trying to tell me?" she asked him, wanting him to be forward.

"Nya… I think I love you…" he quietly croaked out, embarrassed. "I think from the moment I met you… when you tried to kill me…" he chuckled down, face turning red.

In all her life, Nya never experienced love before, she had no idea what it could feel like, what it would be or even who it would be with, there could have been so many, but she never connected to anyone like that. As a child she viewed every other kid as just her friend, and when she went to live at the monastery, there was absolutely no time for thinking of that let alone meeting many people other than her sisters, it was all training, she didn't have time for a boyfriend or girlfriend, she was so focused on getting Jay back she never wanted to do anything else but…

She knew Jay was special to her, and everyone else did as well, even if she would never admit it out loud. Her mind then wandered back to what she and Ronin were talking about the night before her birthday, about how deep down, she was doing this because she loved Jay, though she saw it as the right thing to do for a friend and ally…

Then in clicked for her, remembering all the stories that her sensei would say about himself and his wife, how they fought for one another, and battle life through thick and thin, holding onto each other; that's what love was supposed to be…

"Jay?" he shifted a bit when she whispered his name, "I think… I love you too… I think I always did deep down too…" she swallowed hard, being still as they both continued to hug one another in silence, finally together and coming to terms with their feelings. _"And to think I used to fight him when we were little…"_

* * *

Seliel held the punching bag as Lloyd made more pathetic punching attempts, though, she had to admit, he was getting strong for the average ten year old, of course not able to take her down just yet, but strong to withstand attacks nonetheless, and it could only grow stronger when his powers would come in.

"Come on!" she shouted at him as he tried his best, "Who we after!?"

"The dark lord Wu!"

"Who is he!?"

"Our enemy!" he shouted back.

The magenta haired girl laughed more at how riled up he was trying to get, no matter how fierce he tried to act; the cuter he would be... maybe he could kill Wu with cuteness… "Okay tiger… I think that's enough for now… okay? No need to overdue things," she asked, grabbing his wrist to keep him from practicing more and to untie the tape around his small hands. "How ya feeling?" she asked.

"Super tough!" the nine year old hugged her leg.

"Well good!" she laughed back at him. "Because you are!" she ruffled his hair. "Now come on, I think I heard Skylar and Pixal playing videogames without us! We can't have that now can we?!"

That got the little guy moving, but Seliel just stood there. It was hard to believe Lloyd was going to be ten years old soon. She and Nya knew him since he was a baby, Skylar, when he was around three, and Pixal came in on the tail end of the toddler years, all four had seen him grow up, seen him want to fight and be like them. It almost made Seliel sad that he wanted to actually fight the bad guys, he was raised to think his uncle Wu was evil, and he was, but still, he would have to fight a family member, even if he didn't know him and was attempted to be killed by him.

"If you think you're sad, look at me… I'm his mother," Misako chuckled a bit, "I sometimes wish I had him when I was a lot younger… it would make things so much easier for us right now I'm sure… I hate it that we stuck around here… I hate a lot of things to be honest…" she sighed, "Wanna help me make dinner?" she asked the eighteen year old.

"Sure," the pink haired girl smiled and nodded, following along into the kitchen. "Ever regret? Staying around here I mean… or… anything else…" she dug more.

"Every day of my life… you don't really stop hating this kind of life… you just get used to it…" she quietly responded.

"You… hate living here?" Seliel seemed surprised, she always thought the couple looked so happy… then again… there was a longing to get away that was there, even though they were growing older now. They were the adventuring types, not the settling down kind.

"In all honesty, as a blunt answer, I do… I'm sure that if we were able to do what we actually wanted, this wouldn't have happened… if Garmadon never got injured… we would have moved out and Masuta would get to deal with Wu himself… and Wu didn't ever have to know about our baby or even about us in general… a lot of things could have happened Sel… a lot of things that I can't go back and change… but the only thing we can change right now is our future… and I know you will lead the others well… you're a good leader… a greater one than people say I was…"

Seliel smiled a bit, "Thanks Misako… sometimes I just don't feel like a leader though… I know that my father's the mayor of our town and… I just don't think I'm that great of one compared to him… or even you is the biggest stretch I ever heard… especially since Skylar doesn't ever listen to me… and… Ronin and my uncle practically breathing down our necks like they don't even trust us to do things right or fix mistakes we make…"

The older woman slowly nodded as she pulled out a pot and lit a flame on the stove. "Well… I have actually been talking to my overprotective husband and apparently, you're getting a longer leash… starting next mission you go out on… no more supervision."

"Seriously?" the amber eyed teenager frowned with suspicion. "What's the catch here Misako?"

"No catch, you all are old enough and can handle yourselves, I honestly just believe in you, and I think your _distinguished_ sensei does as well," she hugged the other tightly. "Now come on, get me the bag of noodles out so we can work on this soup".

* * *

Kai's head pounded as he got to his feet, the little ride over to wherever the hell they were was not so smooth as they thought it would be. He realized he was lying in a bed of sand, the waves of the ocean coming up to his legs, making his tunic wet. He grimaced, dusting sand out of his hair and looked around to see Cole and Zane, but no Wu. They were building a fire but Kai, without warning, shot a mini fire bolt at the piled up wood, "Wu?"

"Don't know, walked off, said to wait for you and not to follow him or do anything until he gets back," Cole shrugged, looking around. "You didn't tell us he would get two extra arms by the way… to think he couldn't get any creepier…"

Kai rolled his eyes, "He told me there was a way to hold four weapons at once… you didn't think he'd need more arms to do that?" he threw another stick into the flames, taking his outer tunic off to dry on a rock while they waited for their master to return whenever.

"Yes, that does make some sense," Zane agreed with the fire ninja. "The strange part about this place… is I don't seem to be picking up any signs of… animals or… wildlife in general… insects maybe, but no birds or mammals… don't you find that strange?

Cole just sighed, Zane was right, that was kind of strange for this place to be devoid of any life whatsoever. "So… this is really the place I guess… this… Dark Island… doesn't look like anything special if you asked me… it looks like any other jungle or beach… maybe it's just a bit more humid but… yea…"

"Well I didn't ask you what you three thought of it!" the three froze when Wu shouted at them, returning from wherever he was. "Get up, all of you; we're moving out of here… we shouldn't stay in one place two long and there's more of this island to be searched out," he snapped his fingers when they weren't moving fast enough for him. "GO!" he shouted.

"So, what is going to happen here may I ask?" Zane asked, cutting through the foliage with his knife when it got in his path.

"It all happens here Zane… this is where we're going to get enough power to throw the balance and then change the world into my image for it… and once we throw the balance, my brother and his team of fools will not be able to do anything to stop me… they'll all be powerless compared to our might…"

"And how are we going to throw the balance and get ultimate power?" Cole asked next as Kai rolled his eyes, keeping silent. Why couldn't the others just obey without question? Why?!

"There was an ancient army that fought against my father… the Stone Army… and it was indestructible… the fight went on for so long that my father couldn't take it and so he split the country apart, the coward… couldn't even finish the job…" he mumbled the last part, shaking his head. "Anyways… with that help… we're going to storm the whole of Ninjago… but first… I think you will benefit from something called the Temple of Light…"

Kai perked up, he didn't remember hearing about this now, "What's… that?" he asked, curiously.

"An ancient hideaway from the likes of the army here, it was a stronghold during the Stone Wars… and there… I believe that you can grow even stronger than you are now…" he smirked, knowing his students would like the sound of that for sure. "Now step it up!" he ordered.

"Yes sir!" they all shouted together, practically running along now.

Wu didn't want to waste any time now, why would he? They were so close to reaching their goals.

* * *

After dinner, the five students were outside, playing around in the dark, they had earned it for one day after the little mini adventure to Chen's Island the Dark Realm right after that. Jay was sitting on the porch, not well enough still to do any form of fighting or running around, but enjoyed the peacefulness, no torture, no anything. He was warm and safe and much happier.

"It'll take a while for him to fully recover from this… I honestly feel horrible…" Garmadon sighed, "I wanted to train him too but…" he leaned against the wall, closing his eyes, "Every day that goes by, my brother has more of a chance to grow stronger than us now that he found that island… and no doubt he will use the Temple of Light against us… I'm still scared that the girl's let alone our own son will be enough… we need someone like Jay, one of the original elements to fight with us…"

Misako looked down before getting an idea, "You know… maybe we can find the island ourselves if you're worried about that part…" she turned around and ran into the little library down the hall, returning with one of her rolled up maps she worked on. "I think I have an idea of where it is… since there's a whole missing part to this map…" she opened the map for him to see.

Garmadon looked at the map and then back up at his wife, "You are amazing…" he set the map aside and picked her up around the waist, kissing her cheek. "I have such a smart wife…" he nuzzled the side of her face, making her laugh more. "Wait…" he stopped, "we can't do anything… Lloyd is the only one that can stop him… let alone… he's still just a kid… what are we going to do? Misako?"

His wife looked down, resting her head on his shoulder and sighed, "We can train him as best as we can… shame he's excited for this fight… he really wants to stop the bad guys… you know?" she sadly smiled. "But if I know any better, he's your son… and he can do anything…"

"Don't forget he's your son too," he whispered in his wife's ear. "Please don't discount your power and smarts love… you're just as important in Lloyd's life as I am… maybe even more important…"

"Every boy needs his father-"

"And every boy wouldn't be anywhere without a good and loving mother," he cut her off. "Compared to you… I didn't do much but teach him how to fight… besides… we all know how impulsive I am, let alone you can move faster… I'll probably end up dying in the fight… he'll need you and the girls to look after him after that… when he wins…"

"You did more than just teach him how to fight… don't say those things… please… you are just as good as I am when the time comes to fight, I don't like it when you talk like that…" Misako was set down on her feet, frowning as she folded her arms tightly across her chest. "You must have done something right with Lloyd because he wants to be like you the most… and I think that's a very good thing to hear him say…"

"I was not an honest man and you know it…"

"We all made mistakes in that war… it's time to stop reliving the past Garmadon… because our future holds more hope than those dark years we spent together…" she walked past him sliding the door open, "Okay everyone! It's getting late! It's time to wind down and get ready for bed!" she called out to the kids, some of which groaned. "Come on! It's almost midnight for cryin out loud! In! Now!"

He just watched his wife, that's what everyone had been telling him, for years after, he still blamed himself for so many things, things even he could not have prevented. Maybe Misako was right, maybe he was being ridiculous about everything.

One by one the six students came inside, Lloyd trailing behind of course, unlike the others he went right to his parents, hugging them both. "When am I gonna get my powers? I want powers like Nya and Sky and Sel and Pixie!" he asked, starting to look upset now at the thought.

"Soon Lloyd, you'll get your shot," Garmadon picked him up first, squeezing him as tight as he could without crushing him, making the little boy laugh a bit, "I promise… I want you to get your powers too… you have a big responsibility you know…"

The blonde shyly looked down, not pleased with the answer, it wasn't even a real answer! "I wanna do Spinjitsu now though dad… how old do I have to be to do it?"

"We were around your age when we finally managed to learn it," Misako rubbed his back gently, "It'll happen… maybe even on your tenth birthday you might find you can do it… and that'll be the first, big step for you… and then you can fight all the bad guys you want…" she kissed his cheek, "You're going to be the most powerful ninja ever," she assured him.

Lloyd seemed much happier after hearing that and he was sat back down on the floor, allowed to go to bed now… or at least run into his sister's room and talk with them until he could fall asleep… which was practically every night as long as he knew he wouldn't be caught sneaking in. He was especially excited now that Jay was back with them permanently.

"See, you can cheer him up much quicker than I ever can… you're the one that has that special way with words… not me…" Garmadon bent over to kiss his wife's cheek.

"Well, I'll give you that, you're hardly the suave charmer…" She shot back, "I mean… really… I had to figure it out for myself that you liked me by the way you'd always show off or do something stupid…" She looked away, blushing a bit before he scooped her up in his arms, carrying her into the bedroom.

Her husband laughed at that very much true fact, "Uh huh, yet you fell for me all the same honey," he teased her more, kissing her cheeks and neck, tickling her little bit, "Now come on… it is getting late… and the kids will be asleep shortly…"

Misako covered her mouth, looking away, trying to hide her laughter from him but it did little good.

* * *

"There it is boys…" Wu stopped, the other three teenagers poking out to look past him. "Up that mountain lies the temple… and once you get your powers… should we need force… the Stone Army will be ours to command…"

"Whoa…" Kai smirked more now running past them, "Then let's go idiots! I want that power right now! I hope I get a cooler looking sword!"

Wu looked back at the other two, "I know I must have asked you two this a thousand times, but why can't you two be more enthusiastic about destroying the world? Like Kai! Come on! Run ahead, I'll be right there," he told them, shooing them off.

The white and black ninjas rolled their eyes and sighed, following Kai up to the top of the mountain.

Wu smirked wider, "It's all happening… this is finally happening… and soon, the world will be mine to do with as I please… no more Garmadon… or that brat he calls a son… just whatever I deem worthy to live in this world…" he walked out more and turned to see some strange camp off in the distance, "Heh… while those three are busy… I guess I better start making assurances that Zane and Cole won't follow the path of Jay…"

He cursed himself constantly for losing the lightning ninja to his older brother, still, Kai, Zane, and Cole can easily take on any of those second rate ninja, they were trained to be ruthless, to kill on the spot… or at least Kai was now, and that was all that mattered.

"Before you die brother… you will see what this world should look like…" he cockily said to himself and walked on.

**Look at that guys, Jay is finally happy... he's FINALLY SAFE AND HAPPY... ain't that something... also... if you're wondering what the Nya monologue thing was, Nya's bi, I will fight you on that. I know Jaya has become obnoxious and all that, but I wanted to try and rekindle the sweetness I saw between them back when the show was good, before the season 3 crap... ya know? It was a very special ship to me for a while there and if lego wrecked it, then I wanted to... eh, I guess fix the ship up so that it wasn't as obnoxious and kind of toxic-ish... I hope we all understand what I'm saying...**

**Okay, moving on from that...almost thought I couldn't get this one finished in time for some reason... sorry if there are any big kinds of mistakes, I have just been exhausted... to be honest, although I love writing these fics, it kind of dropped a couple rungs on the priorities list, ya know? For right now I mean, that could very well change again. (ya'll know the drill, blah blah working on the comic and working on the review channel and making over art and all that, convention stuff... keeping in contact with all my friends because I don;t want to be a sucky one, ****playing the sims 4**** you get it; serious business over here)**

**Also, if you have yet to see it, I finally started releasing my fic Back to the Beginning which is the Simple things prequel, the last of the trilogy, but don't worry, I will expanding that universe later with after fics and stuff. I wanna try to get that story two updates a week because it will be very short for the most part.**

**Okiedoke everyone, thanks so much for reading this :D I'll see you guys in another update! :D **

**~Mar**


	43. Chapter 43

**Before we get started with the update, just to let you all know: How the Temple of Light works will be slightly different than the show, this is an au so I can do what I want of course. Also, to answer a guest who seems to hate how I call Kai and Nya 'Blackman': **

**Kai and Nya's last name is not confirmed, Smith is a made up fan last name for them, therefore I can do what I want. I am very tired of people telling me that someone's idea of a surname is the canon surname. Walker is canon for Jay, Julien is more or less confirmed for Zane, Kai, Nya, Skylxr and Cole and MANY characters do not have canon last names as of this point in time. Please stop, too many of you annoy me with this, go away if you don't like it. Some people even claim 'Flamey' is Kai's real last name, this needs to stop, stop saying a fan name is canon when it's not. **

**Also, just a general thing to some people who... might be new around these parts... 1: do not critique/criticize something after only reading 4 out of... idk... saaaay... 43 chapters of something, you don't know if it gets better or not and it's annoying to see. 2: Just a general thing for people who don't know me... I don't take critiques or criticism, been bitten by genuinely mean people too many times irl :) Sorry if you don't like that about me, it's not that I think I'm too good for critiquing, it's just the fact that I don't care and will do what I want anyways. I'm not being a bitch, I just have the right to say I don't take critiques. **

**Now, if you decided to skip all of this silliness, enjoy the update :)**

* * *

"Listen, this house is crowded enough with seven people living here without me and Nya's been sleeping on the couch for Jay and you guys don't have the room for another bed for him anyways… I think we all can agree that it's just better off I go away and be out of your hair now, it's been four years Misako, am I really needed anymore to help run around and cause headaches for Wu? You know where he is now-"

"No! I told you once you're not getting out of this once you decided to come back!" Misako snapped off at the older sibling. "You owe us too much to just walk out of this now that things seem to be getting too heated for you to keep fighting for what you deep down know is right…" she folded her arms, hoping the kids wouldn't hear this, she really thought they had been making progress with understanding each other. "I know what you're thinking, once this Final Battle starts, you want to be clear of Ninjago… but do you honestly think there's some place you can hide that it won't affect? What about the girls?"

"The girls can handle themselves, just like I always said; all four can wipe the floor with me and hang me out to dry each with no problems… why the hell do you need me to go with you on that stupid probably mythical island anyways!? Why do you even need me here since I lost Jay!? It's not like I'm much use to you anymore, all I do is steal stuff and sell it off to stupid tourists…" he growled.

The smaller one frowned more, "It's not a mythical island and you know Ronin!" she pulled back more, "And you had my back in the Underworld, you fight fine… and I know you say you don't care, but Nya already told me, you seem to have too much of a soft spot to actually leave here now."

"What the hell does a sixteen year old girl know about me? She barely knows me and what she knows of my past she's probably heard in some very unflattering story told by you!"

"You would be surprised… how well she judges character on her own… I thought you said they were smart girls…" Misako sighed and turned away, "If you wanna leave… then fine… go ahead… I won't stop you, but you're just proving that you're still a coward to me and everyone else who's ever known you…"

Her older brother laughed, "Oh, well geez, sorry we all can't be fearless like you-"

"Fearless? I'm terrified every day of my life… ever since the war… when I realized how vulnerable people are…" she quietly cut him off. "I was scared my husband would end up dead… no thanks to you of course… that he would ever walk right again when he did come home… scared that one day Wu would just… kill us in our sleep… scared of him killing my only child… scared of him murdering our students or enslaving them in some way…" she seemed to get more and more intense, "I'm always scared Ronin… not for my own life but for every life _around _me… but then again… you seem to not have anybody you care about to be scared for… just your own life in the end of things… maybe I was wrong about those kids growing on you… or you changing you ways…"

Ronin rolled his head back when his younger sister walked inside, boy did he screw up that one, he always seemed to put his foot in his mouth… didn't he? It would seem some things could never really change. He didn't take his bag when he left through the gates; he just needed to think about this more now.

* * *

"Hey you oka-"

"Never better…" Misako cut her husband off when she walked past in a huff.

"Where are you off to then in such a hurry? You look pretty pissed off," Garmadon frowned, wondering why she was going through her papers in the library, "I know we have to prepare to go to the Dark Island but… Lloyd's birthday is in two days… I thought we were going to wait… the older he is the better…" he looked more concerned.

"We are waiting until then… I just needed to get back in touch with Sonia and Daniel again… it's been a while and they made a move to Astor City to work on a long term excavation project for the museum branch out there…" she looked up, "She also called the other day when she heard I was looking for a ship to travel with… guess news has gotten out about that one weird family who lives up the mountain…" she gave the smallest hint of a smile. "And I think I can get this one for a way better price… the only thing is…" she looked like she was hiding something now, "Well… we're going to have to patch it up… a lot… by a lot I mean… practically replace everything on it… from wood to electronics to make it livable as well…"

"Well, as long as we don't have to pay too much for it, I guess it'll be fine… besides, I think we all know that life can never be easy for us so this is a good enough break," the sensei shrugged; no choice but to agree with her. "Going down today to meet with them then?"

"Yep; I promised the kids that they could come if they really wanted too… Jay too if he was up to it… he seems to be doing better every day… I think he really wants to help us now that he's regaining his strength more and more… I still notice he can't keep up with the others that much though…" she rolled up several papers and looked like she was going to be heading out right away. "Go tell the kids to get ready if they wanna come, even Lloyd."

* * *

The six kids watched Misako and the other woman hug excitedly, very happy to see each other obviously. "You look great, I'm so happy I still had your number and you didn't move after all," Sonia laughed.

"Yea well… kind of can't… you know the story with that one though," Misako coughed and looked back, "Well, these are the students… aka my five adopted children at this point," she started to introduce them one by one, "Nya, Seliel, Skylar, Jay, Pixal, and… well, I'm certain you remember my little baby Lloyd…" she chuckled.

"Oh my gosh he's gotten so big!" the other clapped her hands and then turned to the teenagers, "I'm a long time friend of Mimi… and if she and that fool of a husband she has trained you… well… I believe in you kids… if that's any consolation of course…"

"Hey, I heard that!" Garmadon came over next, catching up with the others at last.

Sonia smiled a bit, ignoring his comment. "Now come on, look at the relic we uncovered by the bay! I'm sure you guys could find something to do with it for your adventures… it's about two hundred years old by the dating on some of the old records inside that survived water damage… belonged to pirates apparently who were in search of your mysterious Dark Island… never got far though because it was crashed… obviously… thought that part was pretty interesting…"

She led them into a warehouse by the dock that was owned by the museum when all six of the kids gaped at the wrecked ship sitting in there. "Holy cow," Nya breathed, brown eyes seeming to light up; followed by Jay's blue ones.

"Oh boy; here they go; nerd talk in three, two-" Skylar mumbled, rolling her eyes.

On cue, the two pushed through the two women who seemed startled as they attempted to climb up the broken side. "Look at all of this stuff in here…" Nya turned her flashlight on to see better in the darkened insides. "It's so big in here… these could be the sleeping quarters for sure… the thing is patching up the holes in the sides… but we can fit a small kitchen and food storage too…" she frowned.

"Also we'll have to replace more of the old wood in the bottom; it seems to be rotting away more over the past two hundred years…" Jay started in now, still exhausted and recovering, but his happiness and excitement still had shown through the pale and tired features. "We can replace the bridge with all new electronics! Like sonar and navigational systems for sailing! That way _we_ won't crash… I bet I can design an autopilot system as well!"

"Take that even farther, I bet you anything we can strap huge rocket boosters to this thing and we can fly it through the skies! It'll be even faster and better for a mobile base in case someone farther away needs help with something huge!"

"I can work the blue prints up for that no problem! I designed something small like that with my parents for a science fair project when I was little!" the seventeen year old boy and the sixteen year old girl held hands as the practically were jumping around from all of the ideas they had.

Garmadon pulled them back out right then, "Okay okay kiddos; I know you're excited to get to work on this thing, but rocket boosters? A bit much don't you think? Like you could get that thing flying… it's not the same as a plan…" he looked at the old rust bucket with high doubts.

"Just watch us sir! I'm a Walker! And we can build anything! I know I can still be of use like that…" he leaned against the water ninja, looking down. He had lots of time to think, all his years in imprisonment, just to keep himself sane he would think up schematics for anything, tell himself assembling instructions when he was still at home and built things with his parents. Now it looked like he could put those ideas back into real use. He never looked happier.

Garmadon sighed and nodded, starting to smile at Jay, "Okay then Mr. Walker… build us a flying ship within the week… if anyone can do it; you two can," he agreed and ruffled Jay and Nya's heads playfully. "Okay ladies, you heard it, we're taking the ship…"

"WOOHOO!" Jay and Nya shouted, popping out of the ship through a hole for a moment before returning to their scheming.

"Ten bucks says they can't make it fly," Skylar whispered to Pixal.

"The odds of getting a sailing ship to fly, well the odds are more like one in ten thousand… possibly more, I will need more time to run the numbers," Pixal blinked, running the odds through her head. "All positive attempts would still end as failures I believe."

"I raise you thirty bucks says they can do it," Seliel giggled, ignoring Pixal's sound reasoning. "Like what sensei G said… they can do anything; I'm sure they're geniuses at this stuff for the most part… they just hardly ever get the chance to show it, ya know? Like, Nya's a pretty good blacksmith and can make parts and you've seen her fix stuff around the house, and Jay's parents are mechanical geniuses, I'm sure they're going to do it… plus they're stubborn…"

"Yea well..." Skylar looked a bit disgruntled but looked back to the two. "Yea, nice to see Jay so happy I guess; it was a relief to have him back, though it's weird sharing a room with him since Nya refuses to take her bed back..."

"Sooooo... we're going to have a flying ship?" Lloyd frowned, not understanding any of the technical talk and ignoring his betting sisters to the side. "That sounds so cool! I wanna help too! DAD! Can I help them!?" he started jumping around, begging for his father's full and undivided attention.

Garmadon laughed, "Well, if Jaya and Nya have no problems with it then I don't see why not, I'm sure they'd love for you to help them fix this thing up and make it fly, you'll just have to do whatever they tell you to do." To be honest, he too was reserving judgment on the flying idea, though he lived on a huge mountain, he was not fond of flying or heights much.

* * *

Kai was seated on the floor, angrily looking at the murals on the walls of the Temple of Light, he didn't like what he was seeing at all, not to mention, Wu had left them again for some reason after meeting up and explaining what the temple fully was. "I don't get it! This thing… just… thinks it's gonna predict our futures?!"

"There is something to be said about destiny you know…" Zane mumbled, looking away. "I'm sure we will find a way to unlock our powers Kai… by ourselves too at that, Wu believes it… and I thought for sure you would as well believe in what he says…"

"Yea yea, I know! But so what about destiny? I deserve to unlock my true and full potential! How am I going to make this idiots pay for trying to ruin our plans time and time again!?" he growled more, getting to his feet, punching one of the stone painted murals again. "I bet we could be ruling the world by now if we had just killed the green ninja the first chance we got!"

It showed a baby Lloyd and his parents, then his four sisters lined up, four boys and a shadowy master, then Jay getting zapped at the ruins when he claimed the nunchucks, the girls taking him back, him being tortured. So many things that happened; what the future panels would hold seemed less than specific for sure. Jay was no longer on their side naturally, but showed some flying ship, a great battle; though there was no outcome to show for it, it all was stopped at one painting where Wu and probably Lloyd were at some face off.

"I don't like that… that means that little brat kid could actually win!" he threw his sword down, making a loud, clattering noise, "I will not bend to a ten year old brat who thinks he can get everything just because he is the only legacy of our master's pathetic and self righteous father!" he looked to the others. "We're looking at that room one last time… we need to get those elemental powers if we're going to be respected more… by Wu and whatever creatures lurk on this stupid island…"

"Ugh, fine," Cole rolled his eyes and got up, stowing his canteen back in his bag, getting to his feet, he had nothing better to do anyways and it was clear they weren't supposed to find Wu again until after they did this, "we'll go look at the empty, weird room again if that's what you really want Kai…" he nudged Zane to move along with him next. "Let's just do this and maybe he'll forget we're here and we can relax…" he whispered to the white ninja who nodded in silent agreement to this idea.

"Hey guys! Look at this!" Kai then shouted, regaining the attention of the other two who were planning to ditch out on him. "I don't remember seeing our elemental symbols here before… what do you think we need to do with them?" he gestured to several strange looking plaques on the four main pillars that held the room up.

Zane walked over to his. "Hmm…" he pressed his hand against the pillar that held the plaque of his ice symbol. "You are right; these were not here before Kai… I wonder why we see them now…"

"Something tells me that something weird is going on with this place… are you sure no one is here, watching us or whatever?" Vole looked around, feeling more and more paranoid. Ever since they arrived, he felt like they were being watched the whole time.

"Just shut up and maybe we can find a way to use these things!" he looked to the ground and smirked more, seeing their symbols were also on the ground. "I think we need to use our Spinjitsu and something will happen to us…" he looked to the giant bell that was in the room. "Huh… a liberty bell…" he looked at the dragon engraved on it. "Symbol of the First Master of Spinjitsu…" he scrunched his nose as he said the full title.

While Cole and Zane remained cautious, Kai didn't have a care in the world as he stomped his foot down and used his Spinjitsu tornado. The plate and floor symbols lit up as well as the golden bell in the center of the room. The earth and ice ninjas were staring, unblinking at the sight before them; Kai was actually right in using Spinjitsu here, though, they still wanted to see if something horrible would happen to him... not hoping… that would be mean, even if Kai was a little butt face sometimes…

After the glow faded from the symbols, Kai was back on his two feet, looking at the other two before look down to see his robes were now different, though still black with a little bit of red in it. "Wow…" he smirked, curling his hands into fists and igniting them in flames. "I feel awesome! Look at this!" he laughed loudly. From the plaque on the wall, it melted down and started glowing, turning into a sword like looked like living fire. "Holy crap… this thing is mine!?" he swung it around. "This is better than a dumb golden sword!

"Oh my gods! Lemme try next!" Cole and Zane rushed over and did the same thing as Kai did.

The fire ninja had a devilish grin on his face, ignoring the others right now, basking in this little moment of satisfactory. They figured it out, they had their stronger powers now, and stronger weapons at that… And now, not even his sister could match in his strength, even if she was the master of water.

* * *

Ronin stopped in his tracks, doing a double take as he passed by the harbor, looking at a huge, open warehouse as he was passing by on the way back to the monastery. He had forgotten they were all coming into the city for something about a ship. "Um, what the hell are Nya and Jay doing up there?" he came over and asked.

"Making a flying ship… that's what," Seliel chuckled, folding her arms and looking up at the other two. "Pretty crazy right? Look at them go though!"

"Yea…" he nodded a bit and looked around. "Um... where's… uh, Misako-?"

"Came crawling back then!?" he flinched upon hearing her abrupt voice. "Knew it… wanna stick around? Go; start helping them… Garmadon's in the little office around back talking with Sonia…" Misako walked past him in a rush.

"I doubt I'll be much help making a ship fly, but fine…" he muttered, hoping she wouldn't hear that at all.

"Alrighty guys, I'm just going shopping for Lloyd's birthday tomorrow, I'll be back in a couple of hours and then we can head home for the day!" she looked to the others standing around, "Go on, do whatever they need you to do," she told Seliel and Skylar. "Garmadon's in charge when he gets back in here…" she eyed her brother. "And don't screw anything up Ronin… and look after Lloyd; all of you!"

"I won't screw anything up… geez…" he rolled his eye while mumbling again.

"You got it Misako," Skylar stood up and walked over to the old ship, "Hey nerds! What do you need done?!" she shouted up while laughing.

"Grab the hammer and nails because we gotta redo most of the flooring before we can start on the bells and whistles on this thing! Structure first, then we get fancy! That's rule number one!" Jay poked his head over the side. "Hey, what are we even going to call this thing? Every ship has to have a name you know…"

Nya frowned for a moment, "I don't know Jay… well…" she started pulling out the old and rusty nails where she could see them, but stopped, "Heh… never mind… it's stupid…" she turned back to her work. Jay elbowed her, wanting to know. "I was thinking… The Destiny's Bounty… okay?" she chuckled. "I know; long and weird; right?"

"Well I like it…" he plopped down on the deck, still tired from climbing up there. "It's… fitting I think."

"You're just saying that because I said it and you know it…" she shot back.

"Maybe that's… half true," he coughed and got back on his feet. "Well; let's get started then… we have less than a week. I just hope it'll be sailable, even if we can't make it fly by then."

**Sorry for the a/n up top but I felt I should address those things first before this update was to be read. The whole Kai last name argument is so annoying and I honestly want people to leave me alone with it. I feel, compared to much of the Ninjago fandom, especially on here, I have my own little sterile corner where I avoid bullshit debates and arguments and it's meant to just have some not so serious fun... also, if you want to at least attempt to critique me, don't do it on anon, I HATE the guest user use on here, I'm 50/50 on getting rid of the guest review option... idk why, maybe because when people have questions, I can't just pm them in response, ya know? **

**idk, it bugs me for some reason... but yea, on top of that, I feel really disconnected to this fandom like... on tumblr it was just the worst... and I've seen too many debates on here alone... that's why I post and run for the most and disappear to do other things.**

**Anyways... yea guys, I'm going through a lot of irl stress at the moment so sorry if I don't update a lot... I really am...also I'm sick... and then again, people hardly comment anymore saying if they liked the update or not, I feel less motivated to get stuff out... I know life gets busy for everyone but, idk, it's like on devniantart, so many people used to be active followers and now... my inbox is like a wasteland... ya know?**

**Alright, well, I'm just gonna go now. I hope you did enjoy this and thanks if you did read this update, can't believe I'm so close to finishing this one next... also, not sure about going on a small hiatus or not... heh... yeeeaaaaaa... like I said though, thanks for hanging around and reading :) **

**~Mar**


	44. Chapter 44

The entirety of the past four days had been spent in the warehouse by the docks where the old ship was being repaired to best of Jay and Nya's ability; it was almost like their baby they treated this so seriously, especially when it looked like someone was going to hammer in the wrong place or screw up repainting the planks and water proofing everything. Lloyd was ten years old officially and since then had landed on his butt about a hundred times from trying to perform a stable Spinjitsu tornado, all of which ended in failure.

"You'll get Lloyd, don't worry," Misako hugged the blonde tightly. "How about we take a break for now? Hmm? The others are up on the ship fixing it up, how about we help them instead of making yourself sick spinning around so much?"

"Yea… okay, maybe you're right mom…" Lloyd sighed and got up again, shaking his head, he did feel a little lightheaded and dizzy now that his mother mentioned it. "I guess I'll help Sel paint the deck…"

"Almost done with all of the pipe work in here!" Jay stuck his head out of the floor boards, the girls around him were busy cleaning it up and making it homier for them, sweeping up saw dust, discarding the old, rusty nails. "That way we can have ventilation and water and gas tanks that can last us weeks! It'll be just like living at home in the monastery for you guys I promise!"

"Good! Because I actually hate sailing in all honesty!" Skylar sat down and took a break, looking tired, they pulled an all night the day before she was exhausted from doing all this cleaning; they basically were building a huge mobile house. "Geez, how can you be so chipper? You're probably more physically exhausted then all of us combined I'm sure… between how many years of torture and stress? It's only been a couple of weeks!"

"Yes," Pixal agreed. "I too would like to know how quickly you have recovered from your ordeal! You still look quite weak and according to my scans, you need to rest much more than you have been getting over the past week, and you're immune system is quite low still as well; it is not good for you!" the android frowned, eyes glowing to show that she was scanning.

The blue ninja slowly pulled himself up and shrugged a bit, wiping his eyes, "I like to channel my pure hatred of Wu into something beneficial, anger is a very good fuel, just saying, I'd say it works better than coffee even! And I can sleep on the boat when we start sailing… I do want to be more than just the engineer here… I wanna kick Kai's stupid ass once and for all!" he was smiling while saying all of this… which kind of was a little creepy in its own way.

The pink haired ninja who was listening to their conversation smiled, but held some concern all the same for the newest member of the team she was in charge of, "Okay, you need sleep next chance you get though… even if we aren't finished up here… We all need to be on the alert you know."

"And speaking of sleeping while we finally get sailing, that should be tomorrow… on this boat right here," Nya confirmed, announcing that they were finally done… or at least; she hoped so. "I think she's ready to start sailing guys, I finished programming the computers and our instruments look up to par; we just need to stock up on stuff and make up the beds we built in… basically make it like home so we don't feel too out of place."

Everyone looked relieved to hear that be said at last, a week nonstop was hard work; even part of Lloyd's birthday had been spent working on this; which he didn't mind of course. They finally were able to go to the Dark Island and end this once and for all! The family cleared out for the night, but Nya looked back with a sigh.

"Hey; what's up?" Jay asked.

"I really hoped we would be able to finish the rocket designs before we'd have to leave… oh well… maybe if we survive all of this we can get that up and running, I've never flown before so that could be really fun," Nya shrugged and turned off the warehouse lights. "Guess it's do or die time… ya know?"

"Yep… I'd… rather not die though; just saying," Jay quietly chuckled, holding her hand as they started running to catch up to the others, knowing that it was evident there was nothing but danger in their path now.

* * *

Despite being terrified of what was up ahead, everyone slept soundly, even Lloyd who was excited to go at that, Misako held just a little concern for her son, that's how Jay started in the beginning of all of this, kind of excited to be a part of something, but when the time came to finally kill someone, he locked up and couldn't do it… and if Lloyd dared to hesitate in the battle with Wu, he would killed for sure.

Garmadon, though, was the only one that was still up long after the others retired to their rooms, he didn't even doze off and wake up, he got out of bed and sat outside after staring at his ceiling for an hour, not wanting to wake anybody up, "I don't believe I'm leading my son to the slaughter by doing this… I should be the one to settle this with Wu… it's my fault after all…" he wiped his eyes, mumbling to himself.

He loved his son, he loved the girls too but they weren't a ten year old boy who barely began using his powers! The only thing he could think of was training him more on the way over there, surely he would be ready, he was a Garmadon; he had to be! There was no more time for wasting while Wu probably was even stronger now too at that! And on top of all of this, he was being overwhelmed with guilt lately.

"What can a ten year old do against the right hand of evil…? I wish I could just take his place…" he mumbled, closing his eyes for a moment.

"I'm worried too you know, from the night he was born," a familiar, soft voice came as a pair of hands grabbed onto his shoulders, "but we gotta trust that we know what we're doing deep down… and this is the right path to take," she leaned over and kissed his cheek. "We're Garmadons… what could go wrong? Right?"

Her husband laughed, patting one of her hands, "Oh boy, don't say that, everything goes wrong for us and you know it," he looked back at her, she could be so optimistic when he needed her to be. "Lloyd'll be fine… he always was before this… he's survived this far…" he crossed his legs now, leaning forward more. "I hope that prophecy meant that we were the winners… and not the failures… it's not just our lives… it's this whole world that will be destroyed… everything is at stake."

"And we will be the winners; you'll see my dear," Misako whispered to him, sitting down and hugging Garmadon tightly. "Just wait and see… my little downer," she teased him more. "I think you should get back to bed though… even the greatest of senseis need their sleep you know… especially ones that constantly worry so much they'll get sick," she kissed him again to try and coax him to doing as she said.

"Oh I know… I'll be in in a minute Mimi," she shot him a look of disbelief. "No, really; I will," he chuckled, "I'm coming in a second… get me my staff for me?" he laughed more when she stood up, fluffing his dark hair up more to get what he requested, which was leaning against the wall. "Thanks…" he quietly thanked her and sighed, getting ready to get back up.

"You better be in there in the next two minutes or I'm going to be the one to carry you in there myself, it's almost two in the morning for goodness' sake! We were supposed to stock the ship and start sailing by nine am!" she told him as she traipsed through the doors again, disappearing back inside to their bedroom.

Moments after his wife had left, Garmadon stood up, let out a breath and went back inside like what Misako ordered him to do; they would figure it out in the morning maybe; they always did.

* * *

Kai, Zane, and Cole were standing at the edge of a huge campsite, staring at the odd humanoid creatures that inhabited it, they kind of had markings that resembled Wu's, only in blue, red, and yellow colors on black, stone like skin… also; all but one of them spoke English, which was their general… who oddly enough, also had four arms, just like their master did as well now.

"Sooo… these are the things that are going to help us take over Ninjago?!" Cole raised an eyebrow; sure they looked tough, but they also seemed quick to anger and kind of… hmmm… clumsy in more ways than one. "I don't believe this… these… idiots are going to fight a war with us?" he shook his head and was about to turn away until Kai pulled him back in silence. "You can't expect us to fight with those things… really; they look as bad as the skeletons! Maybe even worse now that I think about it."

"Yes, I do expect that of you!" Wu snapped off. "But I'm not their leader quite yet, so I can't control them!" he frowned, "They arranged for me to meet the person in charge of this island… and you will be here for it! All three of you! And you will keep your mouths shut!" he snapped off at his remaining three, he mostly was saying this to Cole.

"Pfft, whatever…" the black ninja looked away, grimacing more at the orders, which he seemed to be disliking more and more now. "Meh, maybe Jay wasn't the crazy one… maybe I am for sticking around these idiots for so long…" he grumbled.

The white and red skinned monster that was the general, Kozu, walked over to them and gestured to a huge tent, "He is ready for you four now!"

"Try not to speak if you could; unless I permit it, got that?" Wu frowned, walking ahead of the three without another word.

* * *

They set out early the next day to give the Destiny's Bounty its first run as a newly built ship. It was shame though that it was a cloudy, not so warm day to be heading out; almost like it was a bad omen oddly enough. Despite that though, they boarded and set sail with high hopes of making in within a few days to their destination, leaving Tanaka behind to take care of the monastery with Neuro while they were out on their quest to vanquish all evil.

Ronin was currently in charge of the piloting being he did have a ship he actively flew and was assumed to be the most qualified one there for this job, however, this was quite different for him. "I just remembered why I don't sail…" he started looking pale and sick. "Nya take this wheel! I'm out!" he shouted as he ran out, just in time to upchuck over the side of the ship.

"Whoa! Hey! What's going on!? This doesn't feel very stationary like earlier!" a strange voice came from below deck. Everyone else was up top so they didn't know who that could possibly be on board with them, all they knew, was that they were uninvited.

All four of the girls pulled out their weapons and looked to the hatch that led to the other rooms below deck, not knowing who it could possibly be, ready to strike when... some completely harmless looking guy came out, scared stiff when he saw the girls with weapons in hand.

"Ah! Don't hurt me! I didn't do anything wrong! I swear! I'm not a criminal!" he shouted, ducking back under. "Wait… are we sailing? Are we out on the ocean!?" he peeked back up, completely dazed by the look of things, hearing the ocean and seeing no land around them.

"Who is he?" Seliel turned to Garmadon and Misako who both shrugged, they were completely clueless here. She turned back, "What are you doing on our ship!? We set sail almost an hour ago! Where have you been hiding!? Are you an agent of Wu or… some other enemy of ours?!"

"Who?" he blinked.

"He's clean…" Skylar rolled her eyes, "some bum probably!"

"Whoa whoa whoa! I; the great Dareth; am not a _bum_! Thank you very much!" he pointed at her, deeply offended by the statement. "I run a dojo in Ninjago City even! I'm not a jobless hobo! I make money! I am sensei!"

"Okay okay, chill it out; I just assumed since… you know… you were sleeping, hidden away under the deck hoping you wouldn't be noticed apparently…" Skylar stepped away, not wanting to be near the crazy person. "Though he don't like a sensei to me," she and Seliel were chuckling amongst themselves.

"Well he had to get on this ship somehow you know! And depending on your answer, either way, will allude to the fact that you are trespassing on our property," Pixal frowned. "Oh, and naturally you must have had a reason of course for doing this if you are not who Skylar claims you must be… though I must agree with the hobo theory…"

"Yes! I got robo girl on my side!" Skylar whispered again.

Nya then groaned, holding her face as if she came to a horrifying realization. "Oh no…" she seemed to have the answer as to who was their mystery stowaway, "Knew the name sounded familiar when he said it… my second cousin, Daisy, is dating this guy… she runs a separate branch of the Four Weapons with my uncle…" she shook her head. "I bet mom and dad sent him or something since they know each other well enough…"

"Um… you Nya then? You look like her in the picture they had… You're bro's the crazy pyromaniac that's all evil now and stuff; right?" he asked her.

"That's me…" she sadly admitted.

"Yea, sorry, you're mom rang me up and had something she wanted you have, didn't know what it was though, said that she had found it with her things and someone named Misako left it at her place during your birthday party thing," he climbed aboard the deck and pulled out a gold plated object. "Said it was important… guess I feel asleep waiting for you guys and uh… yea… can we turn this around so I can go home?"

Misako snatched the object from his hands, hating how she could be so careless, "I can't believe I was stupid enough to leave this lying around! I knew I was missing something when we were boarding and I double checked my bags!" she looked relieved, "And no, I'm sorry but we don't have time to turn around, we're kind of in a rush you see… we really can't waste anymore time…"

"Ah great… guess I'll have to tell the students that I'll be gone for a few days then… all because I accidently hitched a ride on your little sailing thing," he sat down, looking bummed out by this news. "Anybody got a phone around here?"

"More like you will here with us indefinitely," Pixal corrected him. "And this is no island getaway, we are combating the forces of evil! You should not take this situation you got yourself in so lightly you know!"

"Well if you're gonna stay on board, then you can be our lookout since nobody else cares about it!" Nya offered him something to do in the meantime to probably help distract him. "We're looking for a dark island, we think it my tropical foliage; possibly a dark aura surrounding it… it shouldn't be too hard to spot I'm sure…" she told him.

"Oh okay…" he sighed and got back up on his feet. "I guess I'm on it! You can count on me, I promise!"

"I just hope he stays out of our way…" Skylar mumbled, walking past to go check up on Jay in the control room, "call me if you guys are gonna do something interesting!" she shouted as she climbed up the steps.

"Dad, can we have another lesson? Please?" Lloyd started asking Garmadon again now that all of that had been sorted out with their new friend. "I swear! I'm so close to doing a good tornado! Just like you and momma!" he jumped around his father, acting like he was on a sugar… and he was.

The father smiled and agreed, "Yes, I think that is a very good idea; girls? Would you like to assist me here?" he asked them.

"Sure, Jay's taken steering and Skylar's probably joining him right now so I got nothing better to do!" Nya ran over to him. "What will we be doing today Sensei?" she asked.

"The steps to ensure a steady, but powerful tornado… since… ya know, Lloyd won't stop hounding me to show him again…" he mumbled, glancing at his son who seemed rather proud of his pestering abilities. "Alright; Lloyd; remember when you would watch the girls do the training course in the courtyard?" his son nodded. "Well, that is the best way to learn the steps, now… you remember trying to do the same course right? Last week?"

"Ugh, don't remind me," he held a hand to his face, feeling embarrassed at how far he really got. "I barely lasted ten seconds…"

"Don't worry, it took me _years_ to master that one, and that's when he would put it on the hardest settings for us!" Nya tried to cheer Lloyd up, though he still seemed upset that he was not quite able to do all the same things his sisters could do.

"Okay then," Garmadon called their attention back, "Nya was the first one to master the Spinjitsu tornado; so she gets to go first in demonstration," he addressed Seliel and Pixal who were sitting on the stairway that led up to where Jay and Skylar were at the moment.

* * *

Cole, Zane, and Kai were standing behind Wu in silence while their master talked on with their newest… um… ally I guess we'll say; all until Cole decided to be the one to break that silence of course, "So… we're trust a ball of gas? Right? I'm not the only one seeing this?"

"Shut up before you get zapped by Wu," Kai tried talking out of the corner of his mouth, not wanting to be heard either by the two that were talking. Zane just awkwardly stood between the two, thinking it was best to not try to contribute to this mess. "I refuse to be associated with your stupid troublemaking! What the hell has even gotten into you? You never used to do this; you even competed to be the group leader with me one time!"

"Maybe that was before I started realizing you're an asshole and I don't wanna be that guy," the one in black hissed back at his rival. "It's never just get a mission and go out and complete it, we sit around on our asses and listen to Wu snap off orders at us… for assassins, we haven't done any hits in years…"

"Well maybe if Wu trusted you more to not get caught or screw up, he wouldn't have stopped letting us leave the Underworld or the dark realm to actually do stuff!"

Zane slouched more, "Is now really the time to be having this discussion?" he mumbled, though he would not be heard by the two; his reasoning rarely ever was.

"Your students seem like a bunch of brats… surely I thought a great king of the Underworld could do better than three teenage brats with big mouths…" the ball of gas finally commented; which close the mouths of Cole and Kai very quickly. "So… you doubt who I am; do you not?" he asked the three.

They all were silent now, not knowing what to say to that. "I don't!" Kai loudly said, feeling his face get hot from embarrassment. "But he does!" he pointed to Cole.

"Why you little asshole!" Cole growled.

The ball of gas laughed, "Well, you didn't tell me they had spunk," it said to Wu. "I like the one with the stupid hair".

"He's talking to you," fire ninja whispered to the earth one.

"So is it a deal or what?" Wu growled. "The helmet to control the army for a place in the world I will recreate for people like us!?" he tried to change the subject back to the plans of ruling the world.

"Are you always in this much of a rush?" the gas asked him; Wu closed his mouth angrily at the question. "Yes, yes; I will present to you the helmet… follow me…" it started moving, but stopped, turning to look at the three boys. "And another thing boys; I do have a name you can refer to me as… Your Overlord…"

**Yess, finished in time for the weekend... lol, just like every other week, I wait until the last moment to finish an update XD Anyways, everybody like my placement of Dareth in this one? He FINALLY got to appear. I thought it would be funny for him to along for this insane journey instead of staying back home... have no fear, I do have this all worked out for placement and such... also, I never really found the right ****opportunity****to introduce him. **

**I have a feeling you guys will like the next update I'm planning... just saying... :3 Also, I like the idea of Cole not quite going the path of Jay, but actively admitting that he hates what his job turned into and that he was surrounded by idiots, certainly one to question but not really rebel.**

**Okay so that's all I gotta say today guys, thank you so much for reading this story! I'm so excited more people have been discovering it and like it! Okay, I'll see you guys in another update :3**

**~Mar**


	45. Chapter 45

"JAY! COME OUT HERE AND HELP US THIS INSTANT!" Misako shouted as literally everyone else on the ship, Darreth included, were holding on for dear life to the huge rope used for dropping and raising the sails. The ocean was in a spasm of huge waves that shook their boat around as if it was just about ready to topple it over entirely.

"We need to drop the sails or the wind's gonna tear right through them and I won't be able to fix it out here! We'll just drift around until supplies runs out!" Nya shouted as loud as she could in order to be heard by the others. "WHOA!" she yelped as the boat rocked and the rope attempted to yank itself from her hands, making her slam into her sisters.

"We're trying you know!" Skylar snapped back at the water ninja who banged into her backside, feeling the rope burn the palms of her hands, why did she take her gloves off earlier? "How about _you_ try calming this ocean down for us!?"

Nya sighed loudly, rolling her head back. "I told you, I can't just make a storm stop! Do you know how many years of training water masters need to be able to do that!? Like, at least fifteen unless you get lucky!" she did her best to explain. "And I can't calm the waves when they're this big! I can barely control them when_ I _make them!"

"I'm gonna be sick!" Dareth gagged as the ship rocked around more.

"I already am…" Ronin muttered, just wanting to lie down and get some sleep already. Dareth proceeded to slowly step away from him as much as he could since he was right in front of him.

"Ugh… I already was…" Lloyd leaned against his father who just side, seeing his face was a green as his ninja robes, he knew what he was going to have to mop up later.

"JAY!" everyone finally shouted again when lightning flashed near the mast of the ship.

"I can't do it!"

"Ugh; why not?! What could possibly be wrong with you that you can't come out and do this with us!?" Seliel rolled her eyes, "I thought you were fine with storms again! We know you're still not up to par, but we need some more hands and weight over here!"

The auburn haired boy looked away, very embarrassed now at his reason, "It's not that, it's… um…" he swallowed hard, "I forgot to pack more than one pair of underwear…" he admitted to the others. "I can't afford to get wet now! I'll have nothing to change into!"

"We are literally going to topple over and perhaps drown if you do not try to help us!" Pixal told him next. "Do not be a baby!"

"Well when you have to go all commando; let's see just how you like it!" he pointed at the nindroid girl. Everyone was glaring now collectively at the poor blue ninja, "UGH! FINE! I'M COMING! I'M COMING!" he shouted louder, shakily stepping out and grabbed onto Nya for support.

"PULL!" the black haired girl shouted as everyone leaned back, hoping the rope wouldn't snap; that would be the worst thing for them all right now.

As they hoped, the sail was shut and that headache could be put to rest for now, but everyone had fallen onto the deck, just when a wave splashed over the side, temporarily flooding top deck before draining back into the ocean. Jay looked like he was about to cry because he was up to his chest soaked through the robes, "AH!" he could have screamed even louder.

Lloyd just sat there, shivering and looking sick in the rain while Misako ran to get him a blanket to cover himself with to protect him from getting any colder; she didn't need him catching a cold while they were travelling. "Come on, below deck right now where it's warmer and you can rest…" she told him.

"Hey guys?!" Dareth shouted.

"Not now Dareth! We get it! You're seasick! Just go throw up with Ronin already…" Garmadon sighed as they tried to get organized again and plan their next course of action.

"No, seriously, guys, you need to listen to him… this isn't about being sick," Ronin agreed, staring at where the other man was staring. "This is kind of important… um; REALLY IMPORTANT THAT YOU LOOK RIGHT NOW!" he pointed as well.

"WHAT?!" the girls snapped back, turning to see where they were staring at. "Oh shit…" Skylar sighed, grabbing hold of the railings along the side of the Bounty, knowing there was nothing they could do to stop this.

"Hold onto something! We're gonna crash into what looks like an old lighthouse!" Pixal told the others who still were not paying much attention to the two men.

Garmadon turned around, grabbing onto Lloyd right away, pulling him to the side, "HIT THE DECK!" he then yanked his wife down.

Everybody then went down and tried to brace themselves as best as possible, there was no way to steer themselves out this one, they had accept their fate now as they all squeezed their eyes shut, hoping it would be over soon. Nya started crying because she heard the jagged rocks rip through the hull of her beautiful ship she and Jay practically built all by themselves.

* * *

"Wow… that storm sounds bad out there… doesn't it?" Zane looked through the tent flap, hearing the thunder and the rain that pelted the waterproofed tarp they lay under, the ground around was saturated and muddy.

Cole got up and pulled the flap back more, frowning a bit, they could just barely see part of the shore from where they were camped out, the sky was completely dark with gray clouds as far as the eye could see. They had their own tent entirely, away from the warriors and Wu's own private tent. "I wonder if someone's out there… ya know?"

"You mean like my stupid sister and the others?" Kai sneered at the very thought of running into his little sister and Garmadon while they were here in the camp of the Overlord. "Like they could find a way to get there… Don't say dumb things like that."

The black ninja shrugged a bit and closed it again, "Whatever Kai," he sighed. "You think Jay's still even alive? I mean… we kicked him around pretty good, nearly starved him… not to mention he was probably driven insane or something… I mean, that'd really make us murderers now if we did cause him to die…"

"I hope he did if you ask me…" Kai mumbled, "it'd make Nya cry… that's for sure…" he turned so his back was to the other two boys. "We were trained to be assassins since we were kids… might as well hoped we killed some important people along the way… if not… well in the new world, we'll get to be the executioners…" he smirked more to himself.

Zane opened a hatch on his wrist, poking around tweaking things, "Oh we have killed people Kai… but do not forget," he glanced up, "we all saw Jay up there in the murals long after the girls had taken him back, I honestly doubt he is dead now". He was silent once more after that.

Really, when things were quiet, the small group never really held much of a casual conversation, it was all about how many kill shots they got, training, Kai kissing up and bragging, training, Cole would sharpen his scythe, Zane would throw his shurikens like they were darts, more training. It often was wondered why Wu would refer to them as brothers or a team, they really weren't one, they tolerated one another at best, or they tolerated Kai at best.

Cole had to admit, Jay made the team far more bearable for him, Kai was so obnoxious and such a kiss up to Wu it was sickening to listen to. Zane raised an eyebrow when he saw Cole glaring down at Kai who was probably half asleep by now. He remained silent as the earth ninja got up and walked out of the tent, into the rain.

The nindroid sighed and stood up, walking behind with a strange and concerned look on his pale face. "That's a very similar look to the one Jay had when he decided he wanted out…" Cole flinched as he looked over his shoulder at Zane. "Just saying…" he shrugged his shoulders a bit. He pulled his white hood over his blonde hair so he wouldn't get too wet.

"It's Kai who gets on my nerves is all…" Cole puffed, looking away again. "He's an annoying twerp, I'm the oldest and the strongest… you're a literal robot, capable of anything, you're silent, you're fast… yet Wu still treats him like he's better than the two of us… and I'm starting to get real sick of this… I'm not allowed to question anything we do without getting punished or yelled at…"

"So you're backing out of this…"

"Trust me; I want to beat up every punk ass kid who made fun of me for being a crybaby… I really do…" Cole sighed, "I'm just starting to think I went about a bad way of doing it." He admitted to the ice ninja, not knowing what kind of reaction he was going to get, "I also probably just wanted to piss my dad off too after mom died… I guess that's just how Wu works, he takes up the outcasts and promises us the power to fight back and kick down the people who hurt us… Jay was right…"

"So you are backing out…" Zane sighed, looking back out to the sea, the waves crashing against the shore, settling down just a little bit. He didn't know how to feel about Cole doing this, he felt compelled to stay loyal, he didn't care if Kai was an asshole or not, he kind of felt like he belonged and had a purpose and job to Wu.

"Yea Zane…" Cole slowly nodded, "I think I am…"

"Well… I'm very sorry to hear that then… you see; Wu thought you would be…" Zane sighed.

"Yes I did…" a voice came out of the hatch in Zane's wrist, surprising Cole. "Which was why I had Zane install a hidden surveillance feed in his arm so that when I couldn't be there, I could hear what was going on, and I knew you would always be more open to dear Zane here".

The earth ninja shook his head, raising his scythe. "And here I thought you were the last and only one I could trust Zane," he told the ninja of ice who looked less than nonchalant about what he was about to do.

"Okay Zane, go get him," Wu ordered. "Let's see if I can break him the same way I broke Jay".

Zane pounded forward with speed, weapons out and ready to slice up Cole who whipped the staff of the scythe around to block better, stepping back more, knowing he was being backed into a cliff drop, he didn't want to go the path of Jay, that was a sure thing. "You don't have to do everything he says… he doesn't respect us at all for our talents…" he tried to sway the white and black clothed boy.

"Wu always respected me Cole; he just didn't want you all to see how much trust and responsibility he really gave me; not even Kai," he shrugged. "Now come quietly or you'll just have to die…" he gestured to the drop into the cold, rough waters of the ocean. "It is your choice now, you can't hope to survive one day on this island without us".

Cole clenched his teeth together tightly, looking back up with a defiant expression as he kicked the nindroid back as far as he could and ran right off the cliff, scythe strapped to his back as he went over.

"He jumped sir…" Zane huffed, dropping to a knee, scanning the waters to see if he would resurface. "I don't see him though

"Let him think we won't chase him… tonight, you start the hunt for him… don't let Kai get involved yet, I want him here with me," Wu told Zane. He didn't seem too worried about this one, but he got up and walked back into the camp.

Cole hid under the strange cove, eroded into the foot of the cliff face. He spat out the cold salt water and held the wall as he made his way to the small shore as the waters rocked up, splashing more onto his face as he started quietly shivering. "Great… now I'm a rebel too… dammit…" he growled, shaking his head. "Why did I think I could trust any of them!?" he banged his fist against his forehead. "I should have just kept my head down like I always have…"

Now he really had to be careful, if not Zane and Kai coming after him, there were plenty of stone warriors and other creatures to catch him or kill him. He found shelter under a bunch of huge, overhanging trees where he could at least attempt to dry off. "Well… looks like I'm stuck begging for mercy from the enemy… there goes my dignity I guess…" he mumbled, wondering if they really were on the island.

* * *

"Oh my head…" Garmadon rolled onto his back, wiping his eyes as they adjusted to the dimly lit… room? They weren't in a room before, they had crashed, on the top deck… unless the damage was really that bad and they were in ship wreckage, but it was warmer and dryer.

He sat up and found his wife was nearby, also asleep, right next to Lloyd, he breathed easy knowing they were okay, looking back around he saw the girls and Jay, Dareth and Ronin looked fine too; just all were out cold. He slowly got up, finding that they were in some kind of basement.

"I thought we crashed into a lighthouse…" he mumbled, seeing a dim lantern he turned up to see the room better.

"You did; you're inside of it right now," a new voice came in. An older man came down the steps with more candles, "Ship looks in bad shape; I started patching it up as best as I could, but I've never quite seen such an amazing vessel… someone smart must have built that wonder…"

"They did…" he gestured to Jay and Nya's sleeping forms. "Those two nutty teenagers I keep around…" he smiled a bit. "But… who are you exactly?" he looked around, "What is this place? It looked abandoned when we saw it…"

"Well, I've been here for quite some time you see… locked up by a bunch of these skeletons monsters…" he went on, striking a match to light the room up more. "Thought I was a dead man… but no… they needed my brain for… these horrendously ugly vehicles to terrorize people with… I lived in Birchwood for a time… had a son… and… well, a lot of things happened let's say".

"Uh huh…" Garmadon slowly nodded, kneeling back down to pull the blanket over his wife and son more, finding his staff on the ground, which he used to help stand back up with. "Damn weather…" he could hear the thunder rage on outside, wincing more.

"I take it you're that stupid kid hero back during the war?" the older man went about his business, going to light a pot of tea for them. "The one that was a very impressive and believable spy?"

"Plenty of us were spies; I wasn't the only one you know…" Garmadon coughed, afraid he knew where this was going.

"But not all of them were as famous as young master Garmadon of the shadow clan…" he smirked back at the other. "Boy I knew that war… that was why I went into hiding because too many armies were searching me out to building weapons of destruction; my wife was one of your ice masters… I'm sure you remembered Ilene… she was one of the older mentors."

"Samuel Julien…?"

"That's the name," Julien smiled sadly.

"And… Ilene, I remember her, she was put in the jungle outpost-… oh…" he came to realization that she was one of the few that did die at the hand of the Serpentine, not many died, but she was one of the eight that fell… all because he had to give up a few of the master's secrets to Chen. "I'm so sorry…"

"She died with honor and that's all that matters," he had his back to Garmadon as he set the lid back on the teapot, "It was when our son kept asking where she had went that was the troublesome part for me… he was so strange after that… then came the storm… and he went too… he was such a promising ice master…"

"Ilene… had a son?"

"Yep… our Zane… he was a very sweet boy… died out in a blizzard… found him not too far away from when he was coming back from school… totally frozen…" He didn't seem too sad about this though.

"Zane…" Garmadon sat down on one of the stools by the counter; this was a lot to take in now. He wakes up in a stranger's home after a ship crash and now he was getting the back story on someone he knew a little too well. "What… did you do after that? After he died I mean…"

"Well, I went back into hiding after that, disappeared completely from any and all places…" Julien explained, "I… didn't want people to see what I would do… they would have stoned me for doing what I was going to do…" he looked ashamed now. "I was always the unconventional type of scientist you see," he half heartedly chuckled. "I… brought him back you could say; but he could never truly be whole again… he's… half human in a way… but I never got to ever see him again when I was taken years ago… I bet those skeletons scrapped the poor thing; and just when I was thinking I was making progress with his memory switch!"

"He's a cyborg…"

"Yes… he is…"

"Not a full robot?"

Julien blinked at the question, "well why would he be?"

"Because I know him… and thought he was," Garmadon swallowed. "I've seen him many times… I was there when he got adopted by my friend, ironically enough; he's an ice master as well, Tanaka".

"Ilene had a sister… her great nephews… that was one of them," the white haired scientist seemed to be more excited now about all of this. "So he did find his way back to family! Oh that is so good… so good…" he looked relieved, but saw there was a sadness on the sensei's face.

"It would be good… if he didn't run away from him and… join my fallen brother on a quest to rule the world with other psychotic children," he scratched his cheek. "There's a lot to explain, but it's why we were sailing this way, maybe we should wait until the others wake up before I explain all of this…"

Julien sat back down, a hand through his hair. "Yes; that would be a very good idea… I would love to hear your story…"

* * *

Cole kept looking over his shoulder, he never felt so paranoid in his entire life than right now. It was still drizzling, but at least he was much more dry and less cold, the only thing was to keep away from Zane and Kai at all costs, and basically just stay alive in general until he could find the people he considered his enemies. He shuddered thinking about how pathetic he'll look asking Seliel to trust him and how he wants to help stop these psychopaths he thought were his future.

"Today sucks…" he mumbled, finding his way to the beach, "Heh… kind of looks like you can barely see the coast of Ninjago from here…" he frowned, seeing a strange figure far out. "Is… that a lighthouse?" he looked around, seeing the as the ocean was calming down more. "I wonder…" he tapped his foot in the sand. "It'd be better than staying here if I did try and swim all the way out there…"

He then remembered how cold the water was and stepped back, wanting to take his chances on the Dark Island more. "Guess I better make a camp before it gets too dark on this island… all sorts of weird things come out at night here," he mumbled, swinging his scythe around to start chopping wood.

"And that's how we all ended up here right now…" Garmadon finished explain everything, feeling tired again.

* * *

"Wow, so you're Zane's real dad?" Skylar nodded a bit. "Cool, I wish my dad was a mad scientist that could make me a cyborg! But I got stuck with the crazy, manipulative, creepy crime lord with a harem of women at his beck and call…"

"Skylar… maybe now is not the time to complain about your asshole of a father," Pixal straightened up, she could still feel her joints beginning to rust from the salt water as she continued to dry herself off more. "I am sorry, we all try to keep her in check…" she apologized on the amber ninja's behalf.

"Oh don't worry about it; it's been a very long time since I've seen other people again, none of you are any bother to me…" the inventor looked back to Garmadon and Misako though, "And if what you say is true; then we really need to get moving and fix our boat!"

"We?" Ronin blinked, not liking the sound of putting up with even more people than he already had to, Dareth was a surprise enough, now this have this lunatic who turned his own son into a cyborg?

"Our boat?" Nya and Jay raised an eyebrow each, slowly starting to smiling, liking where this was going. "Think you can build rocket boosters out of the prototypes we keep in the hull?" Nya fingers drummed excitedly on the old, wooden table.

Julien laughed loudly, "I can build anything with anything, I promise you that!" he challenged. "Just show me what you got, I have piles upon piles of scrap for building in the basement!" he started out the door, "Let's go! All of you! We'll need all the help we can get before sunrise! Who knows how much trouble that Wu is causing!"

"I like him… he seems to understand Nya's nerd talk about rockets and stuff, she and Jay look a whole lot happier," Seliel chuckled, walking after them.

Ronin folded his arms, slumping down, "I still say that this ship is getting way too crowded for my liking!" he mumbled more, grimacing when he looked at his younger sister. "May I remind you this was not what I signed up for!?"

"Oh, but you did," she smirked and continued down the steps ahead of him. "Now let's go! This is just starting to get exciting!" she laughed.

**Okay well, if you saw my devianart message... I lied, I was able to finish this one because it didn't need much more done to it... also, yes, in this universe, Zane is a cyborg because why the hell not? It would make more sense to why he's oh so human like, ya know? Most of his limbs and such are replaced by metal and all that...**

**Also, yea, come on, you all knew I had to make Cole have actual sanity. Oh boy, imagine when he sees Seliel again... talk about awkward being the last time he saw her, he was on the ground getting kicked by her lol but yea, that'll be interesting. **

**I'm so excited about this arc of the story, not because it's the final part of the story where shit actually happens and I can lay it to rest or anything... hehe... What? It's been a long time for me and this needs to just be over and done XP I know it's preferable for these types of things to drag out, but like I've said, I don't want this to turn into a First Masters type of story, I need a break from the 70 plus chapters epics haha.**

**Okiedoke, thanks a bunch for reading guys, you all have such sweet things to say and it gets me excited that more people are finding and liking this story! Alright, I'll see you guys next week! Later!**

**~Mar**


	46. Chapter 46

"THERE!"

Everyone jumped out of their light sleep as the sun barely poked through the gray, overcast skies. They all looked around dazed until they saw Nya, Jay, and Julien were standing up, trying to wake everybody up now to get the day started. "We gotta get going! Check this out! We patched it all up while you were all sleeping!" Jay started pulling Skylar's arm.

"I'm up! I'M UP!" she groggily started shouting at the poor lightning ninja. "Damnit Jay! I'm going back to bed after you show us whatever junk you did to this thing…"

Lloyd wiped his eyes, "Ugh, what's going on? Do we get to leave here already? It's so cold out here on the ocean…" he pulled his blanket around his shoulders more, shivering in the cold, damp air while Misako and Garmadon hugged him closer.

"Yep! We get to leave for sure! But this time, we won't have to go by sea!" Nya smirked and ran to the controls, "Get ready for takeoff guys!"

"Takeoff?" they all questioned.

"There is no way they got this thing to fly in one night! That cannot ever be possible!" Pixal accused. "It is impossible to create such a feat! You would need a multitude of workers to accomplish this! Not to mention more than just a week of blueprint planning and building! This cannot be!" she went on about the impossible things.

Garmadon chuckled, "Okay, but when you got those three brilliant minds, I would believe it…"

"We're gonna fly?" Dareth finally sat up, joining the conversation. "That sounds AWESOME!" he raised his hands up. "I've never flown before! Do it! Do it!" he told Nya.

There was a lot of shaking and rumbling from the wooden vehicle, like the sound of a rocket taking off. "Never tell me the odds," Nya smirked at Pixal who looked away, mumbling about how it was still impossible to accomplish, the other kids were just laughing at the exchange.

"Back in business baby!" Jay laughed; highfiving the shorter girl. "Next stop; the Dark Island!"

"And the Temple of Light…" Misako picked her son up who started falling asleep again. "Rest up everybody; as soon as we get to the island; there will be no time to relax, our enemies will be on all sides…"

"Right!" The other teens nodded and started prepping for the rest of the journey to the island.

* * *

Cole finally found a moment of peace where he could put his mind to rest as he fell asleep on the warm sandy beach of the island, so far, no one came after him and no one even knew where he was now. Though; his instincts told him it was all a set up, to make him think he was in the clear. Oh how he wished those stupid ninja would get here and he could literally beg and plead; he had a whole speech prepared in his head about him surrendering to them and stuff.

He then realized that the last person who would come to accept this, would be Jay. He never engaged in the actual, physical torture of him; but he would allow it, never stick up for him like he should have… there was no way that Jay would say it would be okay to have him around. Well… there went his totally optimistic plan of trying to make peace with the enemy.

"I should have just helped Jay get away and… just ran with him…" he covered his eyes, sighing to himself. That was when the earth ninja hear a strange whirring noise nearby. "What the-?" he opened his eyes again to see a huge ship that was about ready to drop down on top of him. "Oh shit!" he shouted, scrambling to pick up his scythe and elemental blade to get out of the way as quickly as he could, hiding in the trees. "Wait… is that them!?"

"LAND HO!" Dareth had shouted to the others.

"Look at that; we made it after all… nerd power worked…" Ronin sighed, coming down the ramp first, glaive out and ready to fight if there were any enemies around. "All clear guys! They must be on the other side of the island!"

"Woo!" The kids all ran down to the beach, taking in the new surroundings. "So when are we going to start looking for the Temple of Light?" they all started to ask with excitement.

Misako laughed, "Oh don't worry guys, we'll head out as soon as we can set up a camp and make sure we'll all be safe and no one can find us right away. That's the important part right now," the older woman smiled at the students, carting her many scrolls and maps off the ship with her.

Cole sighed, "Now or never I guess…" he took his first step out, leaving his weapons behind so they wouldn't think he was there to fight. "Hey nerds!" he shouted.

"We've been found!" Jay upon instinct, hid behind the girls when he saw it was Cole. "Get him!"

"You can literally shoot lightning from your fingers… I don't have any pre absorbed powers, I'm not going to be able to do anything you know…" Skylar sighed, looking back at the poor boy.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Cole raised his hands up, "I'm being hunted; same as you now! I need help!" he told them, biting his lip when they all stared in shock at what he was saying.

Seliel stepped up to him; sure he was taller than she was; but she scared him even more. "And why the hell would we ever believe a thing you say!? After all these years you remained loyal even though we tried to help you see what you were doing was wrong… why now?"

"Because after seeing Jay get kicked round… and how the others reacted to it… they didn't even care… no remorse… they just saw it as their job and it didn't matter how many people they kill to achieve Wu's goals…" he sighed. "I'm sure Jay wants me long gone… but… I need help and you need to find the Temple of Light; right?"

They all looked at him with suspicion still. "How do you know where it is?" Garmadon questioned next.

"I've been there… and I have earth powers and a blade that I could use right now to send all of you flying; but I'm not going to do that…" he got down on his knees to show he wasn't going to fight in any way. "Call it a surrender; I don't care; all I know is that Zane is gonna come after me real soon and I don't want my throat to be slit in the middle of the night if I don't have _somebody_ to watch my back".

"Ugh, do we have to help him though?" Nya folded her arms, getting a sense of what her sensei was going to say to them about this.

Garmadon folded his arms now, shooting the others a look. "I think you know the answer to that one Nya…" he looked over at Jay who seemed to loosen up a bit. "I'm not saying you have to accept him as a friend or one of us in general; but accept his help and any information he may have".

Cole looked down, "I know I did some really stupidly bad things to you all; way worse than what Jay ever remotely did… and I know I wronged you too dude," he told the blue ninja who looked down as well. "All I want is to stop those lunatics before they kill everyone who gets in their way".

"And that means you too are at a risk of getting killed then," Pixal frowned, seeing the logic. "You could have just tried to escape the island and did nothing; now you're actively seeking to stop Wu and the others… you have my trust". Well; that was easy to gain the trust of the robot, she was the calculating, logical one, of course she would use that to deem if he was trustworthy or not; now it was time to start working on the others.

"Help us set up camp then if you wanna be of use to us and help find the temple you rat…" Seliel sneered a bit and turned away to start grabbing wood and such to burn. "Nya, think you can help with water for cooking? Misako was gonna make a big pot of soup and we were going to go fishing for tomorrow's dinner," she called over.

"On it!" the black haired girl smiled and grabbed a few buckets, walking past Cole now when she gave him a look. "If you dare hurt Jay in any way… I'll make sure Wu won't be the one to kill you…" she closed her mouth and continued walking.

Well that was enough to get the black ninja shaking; Nya was not one to mess around. He couldn't help but wonder if Skylar, Nya, and Seliel would actively try to kick him around now. _"Guess I deserve it if they did mistreat me though… I knew what I was getting into when I surrendered…"_ He then stopped his thoughts when he saw the old man with the white hair he never had seen before with the ninja until now, "Um, hi".

"So… you knew my son as well?" Julien asked the younger man.

"I guess…?" he looked around, not sure what that meant. "Who do you mean?"

"Zane; the ice master you said was hunting you?"

"Oh… wait; you're his dad? I thought he was a robot though; didn't have a real dad…" Cole was confused; much like the others when they were told this back at the light house.

"It's a long story; but he's not fully a robot; he's a cyborg, he still has a little bit of humanity in him I'm sure…" Julien grabbed Cole's shoulders. "You said he'd come hunting for you?"

"Yea, he's a real jerk, turns out he was spying on me for Wu because I was showing signs of going rogue or whatever," the other side. "Sorry to say Zane is not who you thought he was… he probably wouldn't hesitate to hurt everyone here, that means you too".

Julien looked down, "You see; there might be a way I can help change that…" he held up a strange chip. "This is the final pieces of the memory program I was working on years ago for him. He most likely does not have any memories of me or his mother right now; so if there was some way I could get this uploaded; then he could be fixed and no longer an enemy threat!"

Cole looked at the object after hearing the explanation, "Wish I could say I could get that done for you sir… but I don't know about that…I have doubts he'll magically change like that, let alone let me get close enough to him," he sighed.

"Oh, when the time is right… I'll handle that task; I couldn't ask you to fix my son for me; that's my job!" the scientist smiled and pocketed the chip once more. "I know that many people here do not trust you, for they knew you as an enemy; but I only just met you now…" he looked the ninja up and down, "and I think you are pretty trustworthy and honest to me… you seemed sincere."

"Glad someone thinks so… I don't blame them, I get the whole grudge thing and it doesn't bother me," Cole shrugged a bit and walked past. "Guess I better go see what they need from me before it gets too late…"

* * *

Wu looked at the sun; then back to Zane, "Kai's still sleeping in then I take it?" the one in white nodded in silence, he had been waiting on his orders since Cole left. "Okay then; you have your directives; go get Cole and silence him. I know my brother is here… I can sense it…" he looked into the forest with a strange look. "I will begin to make the final battle preparations here".

"Yes sir, I shall return soon with the task completed," the android turned and started through the trees; it was time he would have some fun with the runaway who escaped his death the day before. "I shall not fail Wu this time". He told himself; though; he too was sensing something quite strange, like someone he knew was waiting for him as well.

_"__What is this feeling? It's so powerful…" _he continued to think, holding a hand over his heart for a moment as he cut through the foliage of the jungle to find the camp of the enemy; surely they wouldn't be too hard to find.

* * *

Cole was looking over the map that Misako laid out, "Okay, so it looks like we're around here, and Wu's camp is all the way to the west of the island…" he pointed, looking up at the others who gathered around, "sadly; the temple is also nearby there, so that means that there is a good chance we'll get caught or spotted in some way…"

"Good thing stealth is my forte as a smoke master," Seliel commented.

"Right…" he breathed, looking at the medallion Misako had with her, "Huh, what's that?" he picked it up, wondering what it could be used for.

The older woman pointed to the engravings, "It's a way to find the temple, see the holes? But I believe it will be much more of use to us than just that, judging by how there's another side to it," she looked to her son. "Lloyd… are you ready for an adventure?"

"HELL YEA!" the ten year old shouted. "ONLY SINCE I WAS LITTLE!"

The girls chuckled at his enthusiasm; he certainly had come a very long way with his training, and growing up in general. "Look at that; he's all ready to take down a dark lord and save the world!" Skylar laughed.

"Okay so, what else is that piece of junk good for anyways?" Ronin asked.

"Something to do with Lloyd, that's all I know; maybe we'll find out in the morning when they go out and search for it". The green eyed woman rolled up the scrolls and packed them away, "I'll take first watch for the night," she offered up, "I recommend we all sleep out here tonight. Inside the ship; we won't get to hear what's going on and if anyone is coming for us."

"True," Jay nodded, "The ship is still a bit on the fritz after the storm too so any censors we put in will be down until we have time to do the proper repairs".

"Guess I know what I'll be doing tomorrow then… it'll give me something to do," Julien sighed, scratching his head. "While you kids go out, I'll mind the camp I guess".

"Oh, we all will," Garmadon spoke up. "You, me, Misako, Ronin, and Dareth…" he looked to the kids who were surprised by this. "I think it's time they make this quest their own and unlock their powers themselves… without me being so overprotective of the saviors of the world…" he sadly smiled. "Sel?"

The pink haired girl stood at attention, "Yes sensei?"

"You're the leader now; it's time you take on that responsibility for real and stop putting this off," he bowed to her first this time. "And I really don't want to hear how you're not ready for this again… you've been ready, you've always shown it."

"Thanks Garmadon," she hugged him first; then the other three girls joined in.

The old man just laughed a bit, "You kids are gonna be the death of me!" he chuckled more when Lloyd and Jay hugged him. "Okay, okay, well," he coughed as they released him, "you all know your jobs and what the plan is for tomorrow; get to it," he snapped his fingers.

"Yes sir!" all but Cole had said.

"Hey you; dirt boy," Garmadon snapped off, making Cole flinch at the sudden address. The old man's gaze softened up a bit, "that means you too you know… you're grouped with them now; go get some sleep; you won't be much use to us if you're too tired to lead the way to the temple you know".

The earth ninja quickly followed the others to get blankets and mats for sleeping on the beach, "Right! Sorry sir!" he instinctively said out of habit to Wu.

"Hmph, so; you trust that little punk won't do something while they're out tomorrow?" Ronin asked his brother in law.

"Yes… yes I do trust he won't do anything…" he answered. "He is Rose's son after all… I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt… I know that Cole is nothing like Lou… in the sense of a warrior's mind of course." He started chuckling quietly. "Not to mention if he makes one wrong move, the kids are going to beat his ass in".

* * *

Zane peered through the trees, eyes locking on and scanning the targets that were retiring to bed, "There they are…" he breathed, gripping his shurikens and ready to use any of his weapons that would be needed in a fight with that many ninja. "Prime target is Cole… manage to at least kill him and then the rest will not matter; Wu will know where their camp is and the army will be here within hours…"

He jumped down when he noticed only Misako was sitting up, a scythe at her side as she sat up on one of the rocks on the beach. She looked completely alert and ready to fight anybody that would dare to cross her path to hurt the students. It looked like they were expecting him alright.

"Hmph, looks like I'll have to do things the hard… though; Wu doesn't want her dead…" the white ninja groaned to himself; nothing could ever be that simple of a task; there must always be some kind of complication with completing his orders. "Guess I can always make them think an army is at their doorstep and strike when they're busy in chaos…" he thought to himself.

* * *

"Zane's watching us…" Julien swallowed, "I saw the light from his eyes glowing, only robotic eyes do that… just past that palm tree to the left… look; you can see the shine," he whispered, knowing his son was too far away and not close enough to see them moving their mouths.

"So Cole was right with that…" Misako sighed, gripping the handle of the blade, remaining seated, not even turning to look at the others. "Remember guys… we can't risk any injuries now that we're so close to the final battle. We have no idea whether he is here for Cole, Lloyd, or anybody else who is a part of the prophecy."

"He's going to strike soon… and I have a feeling I'll be the first to go…" Cole whispered. "I saw him do this once; he'd lie in wait for almost an hour, waited till people thought they were safe and then made it feel like there was more than one attacker which would make things easier for him to take out a target; get them to panic".

"Good to know… I'm gonna slice him up real good… I wonder if he can feel pain like a normal person can if hes really half human…" Skylar murmured; eyes closed. She honestly just wanted some sleep though, she got very aggressively punchy when cranky.

Pixal looked down, "Better plan… if you all give me a few minutes, I can pick up on Zane's signal and hack into his systems… Mr. Borg; my creator, outfitted me with several means of computer and AI hacking, I bet I can do something to shut down proper functions like the movement of limbs or even just sending a electrical pulse through his body to lock up all mechanisms in place; that way, he won't be able to use his powers or fight in general, he'll be paralyzed."

"But he's not a full robot like you! It wouldn't work on someone who's half human… Would it?" Jay blinked, looking over to Julien who just shrugged, of course; he wouldn't have the answers to that, he and Zane were separated until he could finally put the finishing touches in places. "Unless that the electrical pulse is enough to stun someone's nervous system; knocking them unconscious…" he raised his eyebrows, seeing how it could work now.

"I can do that as well; emit electrical pulses that is," Pixal looked up like she and Julien just had a mental connection on what to do".

Lloyd crawled over more to them, "I say we let her try it! Do it Pix! It'd be super cool to see you control another robot!" he gave her a thumbs up.

"Hacking into it is… then when I see I have some control, I'll send the pulse to see if it'll do anything to him," she breathed, starting to type something into her wrist's keypad. "Let us hope he will not begin to move in on us or figure out what I will be doing to him before he swoops in to do the dirty work…"

**What? A middle of the week update?! Yea kiddos because guess what!? I have the ENTIRE rest of the story planned out and two more chapters almost fully written! And I'm starting on chapter 48 today! It's going to be less than chapters for sure, maybe less than 60 now that I have everything laid out. I'm trying to not cram too much story into every chapter though so it doesn't feel rushed or anything, but every chapter is well withing the 3,500 word range at this point, maybe more now. **

**Anyways, I have how Lloyd gets his powers all worked out and some character building for the others, and cool powers, and UGH! I think you guys are really going to like it! Also, in this part of the story; I thought it was only right to fully showcase Pixal's computer abilities. You all knew it was coming, I saw some excited comments when you guys read when Pixal comes into play!**

**On top of this... I started writing "The Tournament"'s sequel! It is confirmed and will be called The Amulet of Yin and Yang and I have two chapter written of that. It'll be about as long as The Tournament, maybe a bit less. But I promise it'll be way way easier to follow than that first one. I feel I may have gotten a little too chaotic with the second half of that fic... or the last quarter of it anyways. **

**So yea, excited! This was a super big project so that why it like to suck all my time up, but if I get almost all of it written, then I can confirm doing two updates a week and maybe when that's more out of the way Black King can return to a once a week thing. As it is, after "Back to the Beginning" is almost over, I'd like to work on that other story I was thinking of. It would be withing twenty chapters as well since I don't like doing huge epics like this one too often anymore. **

**I'm sorry; I'm just so excited I'm getting stuff done and getting ahead of myself while I still have ideas and motivation to do it! (also, may or may not happen, idk, but I was starting to kind of think of a sequel sort of thing to this... I'm not sure, I'd prefer to leave it as a one off... but I'm sure I can think of something to do as a sequel... maybe... with Serpentine? hmMMMM? Yea, don't quote me on that, it's so not definite)**

**Thank you so so much for reading! And I will see you guys this weekend for sure!**

**~Mar**


	47. Chapter 47

Zane sat up more, frowning, seeing some movement happen between the ones who were supposed to be asleep, he had been watching for a few minutes and he just couldn't help but wonder if they knew he was here. "I have a bad feeling about this…"

"Who cares how you feel!? Just go for the throat and-!" Wu snapped over the speaker when his voice cut out.

The ice ninja didn't know what to do about that, it appeared he was malfunction in some way. "What is going on over there?" he narrowed his eyes, which started going static like. "What is wrong!?" he quietly growled, not wanting to give his position away because of his frustration. He hit the side of his head and growled more to himself.

Yards away, Pixal sat with a snarky little look of victory on her white face, "I just took out and intercepted all comm feed and now I'm blinding him with a static screen!" she giggled just a little bit. "I cannot believe there are so many open systems I can connect to like this! You really didn't complete his design I guess."

Julien chuckled. "What a sophisticated and intelligent machine you are…" he marveled at Pixal, "I would love to meet the man who created you my dear! What else can you do exactly?"

"I am but a humble nindroid servant, my duty is to assist the Garmadon house in any way that I can; I was programmed specifically for this job, outfitted with hacking systems and capable of using preset fighting styles as well as adapting to other forms and attack patterns". Pixal said as she continued her hacking. "He should be completely dark now and out, you are all free to tie him up without issue."

"This Borg is a genius to make such a smart AI like you…" Julien looked up to where he saw his son minutes ago.

"It should be safe to inspect the area fully now, I am getting signs he is out cold," Pixal closed the hatch and sat up with the others.

Cole sighed, getting up, "I got this…" he started walking, but Seliel got up as well to look with him. Zane was laying flat on his back, almost like he was asleep, which, he technically was now. "Okay guys; it's all clear and we're safe for now… what are we going to do about him though?"

"We're going to make sure he doesn't go anywhere he's not supposed to!" Garmadon told the earth ninja. "Drag him over here and we'll tie him up or something!"

Misako looked relieved, as did Dareth who did not want to have the pleasure of fighting a super enhanced fighting machine; he was already scared of the teenagers that were surrounding him right now and they were on the same side at that. Besides that, the students would be leaving the camp within hours to find their way to the Temple of Light; just like Cole promised he would do for them.

* * *

The next morning, Zane was still offline, the only worry now was that Wu would be coming for them and knew that they were there for sure. While the others were busy getting their ninja robes on, Pixal walked over to Zane with a frown, "I will do my best to keep him offline in any way I can, I may lose the signal though and he could override anything I did to him if he is adaptable, please be careful," she warned the scientist.

"Thank you for not harming him; I'm sure I can do something about this and maybe get his memories of me back; he used to be a very mild mannered boy," Julein told her. "But I guess I have my work cut out for me".

"Good luck then, I hope to see you succeed when we come back!" the silver haired one smiled and bowed to him.

"Come on Pixie!" Lloyd shouted. "We're gonna go on an adventure!"

"Oh my gosh; you guys can't be screaming all over the island you know! There'll be stone warriors everywhere and I'm not going to get into a fight if we don't have to!" Cole wiped his face, realizing that they were not accustomed to stealth missions like this.

Skylar walked past, pretty much ignoring him the most when she looked at his robes, "Ugh, is that what you're going to be wearing?" she raised an eyebrow. "You look like an emo threw up on you".

"Well sorry I don't look like a circus like the rest of you with your colorful getups… you all could be clowns if I didn't know any better," he shot back, referring to her honey orange colored clothes. "You all will stick out like sore thumbs in this dank place… guess I should have expect that from a bunch of girls who were raised by… well… people like that…"

"Aka, he means he's jealous that we have individuality and don't blindly follow orders," Nya folded her arms, looking back at Jay who remembered wearing the drab and dank colors of black and dark blue; now he was free to wear a much lighter color and actually felt like he belonged; even though all of their robes were not uniform like how Wu made them dress.

"Fine; whatever, just saying; you have been warned," Cole shrugged, not wanting to deal with this. He was helping them! They could at least take this more seriously!

* * *

Kai walked into Wu's tent abruptly, he didn't care that his master was talking with this Overlord who was strangely helping them for no real obvious reason. "Where's Cole and Zane?" he demanded to know. Wu remained silent, glaring at the fire ninja, "I want to know; because something is up, you've been leaving me out of the loop; and I won't be leaving here till I get an answer!"

"Fine," Wu turned to face the fire ninja, "Cole has gone rogue and Zane is merely just… disposing of him before he gets the chance to run into my brother and help them," he shrugged. "You did not need to know, I needed the stealthiest one I had, and that was Zane".

"You could have at least kept me notified about what was going on here! I knew Cole would be a traitor… he's weak; just like Jay was… unlike Zane; I never would have let him get away for us to track down later!" Kai mumbled to himself more.

Wu sighed, rubbing his temples; growing irritated with Kai at the moment, "Listen; you don't have to trouble yourself with what I'm doing and how I am fixing things unless I say you should worry yourself with it… now follow me…" he started walking out.

"Um; where are we going?" the brunette questioned.

"To the place where I will begin the final countdown of course… it is time we truly start the beginning of the end… that's what I was discussing in there when you barged in unannounced."

* * *

"We're going to have to climb fast; they'll be sending the next guards over in about two minutes and we can't be seen!" Cole gestured for the others to move out fast. Jay was the last to pass him as he stole a still hurt glance at the black clothed one. _"We can settle that later… I just need to focus on them getting their proper powers now…" _he told himself over and over again.

Lloyd was the only one who seemed to need help with climbing though. "Ugh! No fair! How can you guys climb so well!?" He wanted to know. He was decent at fighting; but climbing was one thing he always had trouble with.

"He's gotten so big… I don't think one of us could carry him on our backs now…" Nya sighed, resting her head against the rock wall as she stopped to look down.

"I got it!" Cole grabbed Lloyd and let him hug his back. "You good back there greenie?"

"Yea!" he confirmed.

Wasting no more time, Cole jumped up to the wall, fingers gripping to any of the footholds there were. He was one of the last to come up, but the girls could hear the youngest of the team laughing the whole way up. It seemed to Cole that this gained some trust points with them… he hoped anyways.

"That was awesome…" the blonde smiled when he was set down, "how are you so strong?!"

"Earth ninja kiddo; I'm sure once you unlock your powers; you'll have access to the same kind of powers… earth, fire, lightning, and ice… the four prime elements that were used to create Ninjago… you have some big shoes to fill for a squirt…"

"I'm tough! I can do that easy!" Lloyd piped as he followed the others into the temple. "I'm gonna take down Wu and save everyone! All by myself! Just watch me!"

"A team is a really good thing to have though Lloyd; come on, even your dad taught you that," Jay patted the other's back reassuringly. "Come on; let's go see what this is all about now!" he looked to the huge room ahead of him.

Cole sighed, remembering the last time he was in there, almost a whole week ago. "Kay; here's the deal; find your symbol, and use your Spinjitsu over it… trust me; it'll be really cool," he looked around and couldn't find a spot for Lloyd though. "Um…" he looked up to the bell. "I wish I knew what you had to do kid… maybe we'll find out…"

Pixal frowned when she saw there was a symbol that matched the clasp on her hood. "Even I have an element? But I am just a robot…"

"Lightning and electricity go hand and hand Pixal; you're more special than you might think; I think we all can agree you're way smarter than just any old robot," Jay smiled a bit when he showed that his symbol was next to hers. "Come on; it couldn't hurt to try; could it? You're just like us after all!"

She seemed to shy away a little bit, "I may have a mind of my own Jay, but it is also an artificial one, computers are not elements nor can you just make it up to be like that…" she looked down at the little symbol. "And no, you cannot say mine is power like what this symbol means; that is Lloyd's ability I am sure…" she held her hands together.

"Pixal…" Nya came over to her next. "You're still a part of this team, artificial intelligence or not… not to mention Lloyd's element is all of them, it's not defined like what yours obviously is; don't doubt your strengths! You never have before".

"That is before I realized I truly am one of a kind, not even that Zane is full robot like me… you have to repair me and I'm just a repurposed servant droid is all I am… I even act like one, always obeying orders and being the go for of the team…" she turned away from the ninja. "I'm just some body guard, built to protect Lloyd… it doesn't matter how much people care about me, I don't have any special role beyond that; and when he gains his powers, I won't be of use anymore because he will be able to take care of himself!"

Lloyd looked a bit guilty about getting powers now, but he didn't like Pixal because she was just the guard over him! "All four of you are my friends though! Not just you guards; Pixal! All of you guys are really important and I wouldn't be here if you guys didn't help me learn how to fight!" the green ninja told her. "I still want you around…"

"See? You're making him cry now, talking like that!" Skylar gestured to the ten year old. "You in with us or not robo girl!? Because very soon there will be an army at our doorstep and we could all use an upgrade I think!"

Cole was looking out the window every so often to make sure there wouldn't be any snooping guards coming around to catch them here, and if Wu would be alerted, then they were all in trouble now. "Okay, we need to hurry this up, as it is, I think something with that bell has to ring out, and then everyone will know we're here for sure! So let's be quick about it!"

"Right," Seliel sighed, scratching the back of her head and walking over to her half moon symbol, "this looks like my helmet's symbol; you all got yours?"

Nya walked over to the one with the phoenix design. "This one matches the design on my dress and my ninja gi so I'm over here!"

"This one has mine," Skylar was sitting on her spot already, waiting for the others to find their plate.

"I got the lightning symbol over here…" Jay started and gently nudged Pixal to stand on the one closer to him. "And power goes to Pixal". He smiled when she stood over her spot.

Lloyd saw the only one remaining for him was a head of a golden dragon, he walked over to it and frowned, "but I can't do Spinjitsu yet… not like what you guys can do anyways…" he looked up to the others. "My dad said I'm not old enough to use my green ninja powers right! I bet I'm supposed to be your age for the final battle!"

"We'll work out the details later for that, just…" Cole shook his head. "Please guys, we can regroup about this later; I'm sure Wu knows about Zane by now!"

Nya nodded, "So; just use my Spinjitsu huh?"

Cole watched the others figure it out for themselves. It was the same effects as when he and the others did it, they all glowed brightly; it was like a metamorphosis for elemental masters, Lloyd watched in awe at the glowing figures of his friends while Cole put a hand on his shoulder. "That'll be you soon too kid… I promise; we'll find a way…"

Lloyd frowned and pulled out the medallion his mother gave him from the folds in his robe. "Does this have something to do with it maybe?"

The earth ninja raised his eyebrow and looked at it, "I… don't know… that's an interesting idea though," the eighteen year old took it from him to look it over better.

* * *

Back at the camp, Julien was working on Zane while the others were busy getting water and more wood for cooking later; they were a bit worried; sending a bunch of kids out on their own like this; but they would be back and stronger than they ever could be.

"Okay Zane… I think we got it…" Julien smiled a little bit as he went to flip the final switch; the memory switch in fact, which he needed to fix before uploading the last part to him. "I hope this works… I know I'm limited on supplies here". He sighed; he really had missed his son more than he ever thought he knew.

Zane looked like he was about to wake up, but the ninja of ice felt something was really off in his memory banks and systems as a whole. His father noticed his heartbeat started to race and he was twitching a bit. "Zane?" he asked, worried.

"Who the hell are you!?" Zane asked the older man. "What did you do to me!?"

"You see it in the memories; I'm your father," Julien tried to calm him down. "You've been through a lot and I tried to help you… I fixed the memory switch like I tried to do years ago!" He noticed the blonde looked around confused; like memories were getting jumbled up. "Guess I need to do another tweak; I know I need to put in the new softeware," he scratched his cheek.

"No! Get away! I don't have a dad! I…" Zane shook more, "I died…" he realized. "What the hell am I!?"

"My son-"

"No! I'm not a human… I'm not a robot… I'm just some freak show you made!" he shouted.

"How else do you think you got your powers? If you were merely a robot… you wouldn't be able to have ice powers…" Julien pointed to where his hear was, "You still have that; that was one thing I didn't need to fix… your mother was an ice master Zane; you aren't some unique robot…"

"I was gone… why did you bring me back to life?! Why couldn't you just leave me be!" the cyborg was starting to break out of the restraints more. "Why did you put all these horrible memories in my head!?" he clenched his teeth and just wanted to get out of here now.

"Because I lost her… and I you were all I had left… if you just let me finish the install-"

The two stared at one another and Julien really thought he broke through to his son… but Zane snapped the restraints though it was wobbly; he jumped away, making a break for it.

"He's getting away!" Julien shouted, not knowing what to do, Dareth was the only one left at the camp and was currently napping. "Oh Zane…" he closed his eyes, "I'm really sorry I did this to you… it's my fault…"

Zane panted, new things started to come to mind and it hurt him. He started to wonder how much of him was their left that was human, what was real? What was fake? Were so memories forged? "Get out of my head!" he shouted as he ran back to the camp, but stopped abruptly, shaking. "They were going to the Temple of Light…" he checked his surroundings. "They were…" he swallowed, taking off again.

* * *

"Oh my gosh! Look at you!"

"Hah! Look at you!"

"Guys! I a huge ass lightning sword! It looks like a lightsaber! Haha!"

Cole and Lloyd looked back to see the other five freaking out about the elemental swords and robes they received when they were done. "Yea, the sword's an extension of your power, you can channel it into the hilt and blade comes out, Zane, Kai, and I all have those as well, but don't rely on them all the time; you'll still find your old weapons of just as much use". He pulled out his earth sword. "Also, they can cut through any material".

"Cool," Seliel looked at her smoky gray one. "Okay, what about Lloyd though? We still need to figure his situation out!"

"Working on it right now actually," Cole sighed, kind of annoyed. "He says his mom thinks this medallion might have something to do with things…" he flipped it over. "Huh; the backside has the dragon symbol on it," he commented.

"Wait," Skylar took it and hung it around Lloyd neck. "Okay blondie; you're gonna be a Spinjitsu master; just like us, you hear me?" Lloyd nodded. "Now stand under that huge bell over there above your symbol!" Lloyd nodded and quickly ran over to where he was told to. "I have an idea…"

"The bell is a symbol of the First Master of Spinjitsu; it even has his crest on it…" Pixal pointed up to the engravings on the golden object. "Deciphered; the ancient writings seem to say… _Through ties of trust and of loyalty; peace will be achieved, for is not enough_". She frowned. "We all need to hit the bell…"

"Okay kids; have fun while I stand guard to let you know when we're all screwed-!" Cole was about ready to walk off.

"No!" Seliel stopped him. The others looked surprised. "It means all ties…" she offered her hand out. "You left Wu to find us… you helped us find this place in return for all you tried to do to us… you need to be a part of this too now".

"Are you serious?" Skylar blinked. "No way in hell is he a member of this team Sel! You can't just do something like that without our say!"

The pink haired girl's amber eyes flashed angrily, "Garmadon said I was the team leader now… it was my call… and it is… It's obvious Cole wants nothing to do with Wu; and if he means it; he will help us in any way he can; right?"

Nya put her foot down now, "How about we ask Jay what we should do about Cole since he was betrayed by him!? If Cole wanted out; he should have had the guts to do it like Jay did! I say he's out; because I don't trust him a whole lot still!"

"You saw yourself! Zane tried to hunt him down and kill him before he could lead us here though," Pixal stood upright more, speaking her mind on the matter.

Jay just held a hand to his face, not saying much on this; he was just too exhausted to even join in on the pros and cons to Cole's presence with them. Seliel went at it again though; claiming her right as the leader of this group.

"You think I like him all that much either!? I don't! But Garmadon and Misako said to take him with us and to finally be a team to stand on our own! Maybe that's why they've waited so long to let us go out and stand without them! Look at us! The final battle is coming and our savior doesn't have his powers yet and now we're fighting!"

"Guys?" Lloyd quietly tried to speak up.

"Just admit you've had this weird obsession with fighting Cole since you've known him!" Skylar snapped back. "You say you like to beat him up; but I think you just like the bad boys; you can't just invite someone who's betrayed us time and time again without there being repercussions for them!"

"That is not our way though Sky! We don't punish people who want to help us! Don't you see that we're just wasting time arguing at this point?!"

"Guys!?" Lloyd folded his arms; just like that; they left him out of the circle.

"Listen; let's just get this over with; Cole didn't specifically set out to hurt me; he was confused just like I was about joining Wu and was only doing what he was told! Just like I did for a while but you guys seemed to trust me right out of the gate when I explained how I felt about things!" Jay ran a hand through his hair.

"Oh shush; you're still tired from _imprisonment_! Nearly being starved and treated like some criminal by them!" Nya hushed the freckled one.

"Yea but I could at least tell Cole had a soul compared to your brother and Zane!" Jay angrily shouted back. "Just because you knew he was on Wu's side when I was locked up doesn't mean you think you know Cole better than me!"

"Thank you!" Cole shouted.

"Shut up! It's Stockholm syndrome when you find sympathy for your captor like that!" the water ninja continued to argue.

Lloyd took a few steps back, shaking his head; he couldn't believe what was happening; all six of the teenagers before him were bickering and arguing like literal children! On top of that though; they were completely ignoring him being there as well! Lloyd didn't know what else he could do now; they were on their own now; his parents or uncle or even Tanaka weren't there to referee them, and so far, they were doing one hell of a job saving the world.

All the poor green ninja could do was sit on the floor and start crying. Pixal was the first to break out of the conversation to see Lloyd was crying uncontrollably. "Oh Lloyd…" she knelt down and hugged the poor ten year old as tightly as she could, "look at us… arguing so much that we don't even care to hear what he has to say about this… this is about him guys… not us…"

Skylar and Nya looked away, feeling bad now for wasting everyone's time. Nya looked up to Jay, "I'm sorry Jay… you're allowed to have your own feelings… even if they don't line up with mine…" she leaned against his side. "Lloyd… we're sorry we ignored you, Pix is right… we shouldn't let stuff like this get in the way…" the she then hugged him as well. "I was just trying to include all of our feelings into this… if… well; you can decide, we all do it… or not…"

"No but you're right," Cole said. "I should have gotten out sooner than this… but I was afraid of what would happen… I saw what Wu did to Jay and I panicked and stayed… I'm not brave at all… Jay's the brave one here…" the earth ninja sat down as well, covering his face.

"I personally don't belong on either side; I should have just played it smart and stayed with my parents from the start…" the lightning ninja sighed.

"We both should have Jay…" Cole nodded.

"So how are we doing this?" Skylar crossed her legs and held her hands together now that they were all sitting and calmed down. "What's the plan?"

"We go with the first plan… we _all_ strike the bell at the same time with Lloyd under it," Seliel spoke up. "Because like it or not all _seven_ of us are a team now… and that's how it's going to be… we may have all done things to hurt each other… whether we knew it or not… even though we've always been on the same team," Seliel looked to Skylar, "but we all are going down together if this fails…"

Nya nodded quietly. "Okay then… as a team it is…"

The all stood up, in agreement at last.

* * *

Kai stared at the strange helmet on the pedestal, a bronze clock behind it; his master laid a hand on the shiny black metal. "Once I take this Kai… it will be twenty four hours until the battle will begin… are you ready for this? To fight and serve me to the end of Ninjago and into the new world?"

The fire ninja looked back to the man he served and nodded. "Ready when you are sir".

The helmet was lifted and the clock started ticking down.

**OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOSH. The tension is real. Aaah, I can't believe this is almost done! I'm estimating around 55 chapters at this point now. Anyways; did you hear Seliel might be in the next season of Ninjago? Yea, she has a poster decal in one of the summer set waves. It's her helmet. I just hope they do that cutie justice and better yet, they do Coliel justice. (let's face it, we all know that it's gonna happen if Sel is in the show)**

**Okay, moving on; not much to say here, things will get resolved I promise. Also, I'm excited because the next chapter will reveal how Lloyd will unlock his full potential for the final battle! Like I said; it'll be quite different from the show; but I'm so happy to see that a lot of you like my interpretation of the potentials and the temple of light for this au! It just makes me feel like I'm doing good and being creative...**

**Okay I gotta go now and write more and stuff lol see ya my dudes and thanks for reading!**

**~Mar**


	48. Chapter 48

"And he just broke out and bolted off; just like that!?" Misako covered her mouth after hearing what happened with Julien and Zane while they were away from camp. "Oh gosh this could be really bad now when he finds his way back to Wu…"

"Why the hell didn't you stop him or something?! Why didn't you do something about this before he got away! Do you know what kind of danger we're all gonna be in right now because you just let him get away?!" Ronin shouted at the poor man who didn't need this right now.

"That's enough Ronin!" Garmadon growled at his brother in-law. "He did everything that he could do on his own! Without Pixal; Zane couldn't be controlled as easily until the right modifications were made to get his memory back… I bet he'll be after the kids now… I'm sure he knows they're at the temple right now as well…" The sensei realized. "He's probably almost back to his own camp by now…"

"Yea; there's nothing we can do… we can only wait and hope they succeeded," Misako grabbed her husband arm before he could attempt to run off and help them. "What happened to trusting in them now?"

"I know…" he sighed. "I can still worry about them if I want though!"

"Come on; let's have dinner ready for when they come back…" his wife nodded. "Dareth!" she shouted, waking him from his nap. "Dareth! I told you to go fishing earlier while we were out getting water and stuff!" she tiredly sighed.

"Oopsies… sorry Misako! I'll get some! Fear not! The great Dareth can do anything!"

Ronin just held a hand to his face, "I just… hate having that lazy dingus around…" Ronin shrugged, walking off as well.

"Pfft, you're pretty useless to you know; it's not you use those amazing powers you have to remotely help us; you barely join in on the fights anymore let alone actually helping with upkeep and making meals… freeloader…" Garmadon walked with him as they bickered.

* * *

Zane rushed back to the camp as soon as he could; he knew Wu would not be pleased with him; but he needed to sort his head out now more than ever. He was right where Zane expected his master to be, sitting with Kai in his tent and talking, about what, he didn't really know. The clock was started, and hopefully they could stop the ninja in time.

"So you're back…" Wu leaned on the armrest of his seat.

"The ninja have made it to the temple!" Zane huffed and puffed, looking exhausted. Wu was about to shout something at him, but Zane managed to save his skin for now. "Let me lead an army to the temple with Kai… we'll make sure your nephew does not complete his training and we'll capture them! They'll be boxed in at the temple!"

Kai rolled his eyes, "ugh; leave me out of your stupid ideas, I'm not going to get punished when that plan turns out horribly wrong!"

Wu shrugged a bit and looked to his ice ninja, "You may take as many men as you think you will need… I on the other hand…" he stood up, "have to oversee the final stages of a building project these stupid warriors have been working on for the past week, so I recommend that you do not fail me and waste more of my time Zane… and you will be doing this alone."

The white and black clothed ninja bowed and started out. "Thank you sir!"

"You know he'll fail though," Kai folded his arms, "why are you wasting men that could be building this ultimate weapon?"

The dark lord shrugged off the concern of the fire ninja. "It'll buy some time I supposed; if he could at least injure those idiots; then they'll have less of a fighting chance naturally".

* * *

Lloyd was standing under the bell, the medallion around his neck and the other six standing around the bell in a circle; it was time to see if they all really trusted one another and were loyal to the same side still; though Skylar still had her doubts about Cole.

"Ready Lloyd?" Seliel asked.

"Ready!" the boy shouted back. "I'm kinda nervous though…"

"I just hope this works…" Nya sighed as she gripped her sword tightly, ready to jump and hit the bell as hard as she could, just like the other five with her.

Cole nodded, "Alright; on the count of three we jump and strike it with the swords!" he looked out the window, hearing someone shout from down the cliff face. "And I think Zane might have escaped and brought the Stone Army here now…" he sighed, "of course…"

"Okay guys! Let's hurry and do this!" Seliel told the others.

"ONE!"

"TWO!"

"THREE!"

The six teenagers had no idea if this would do anything at all; they were flying dark here and Misako's scroll only said so much about the temple; there was no riddle to solve, just that engraving to decipher the meaning of without her help. Lloyd was just closing his eyes, hoping for the best; worst case scenario; the bell would blow his eardrums out of his head forever… but he of course would prefer to not be deaf.

"EARTH!" Cole drew the blade first.

"LIGHTNING!"

"SMOKE!"

"AMBER!"

"POWER!"

"WATER!"

As soon as the six blades struck the bell; they were all blown back by the ringing noise into the nearest walls. Lloyd seemed unaffected by the sound though; but they were all certain that everyone on the Dark Island could hear it for miles.

Lloyd started shaking; he had no idea what to do, well, if he should be doing something; or at least feeling something. He grabbed the pendant around his beck and saw it started to glow and do something at least, to him? He had no idea as of right now in that moment.

The others sat up on a knee, trying to see what was happening, "Guys… I think it worked…" they could hear Pixal electronically breathe. "Something is happening to him…"

"Shouldn't we be concerned about _what_?" Skyla snapped the question, irritated that no one showed much concern.

"Please work…" Jay closed his eyes.

"Stone warriors are right outside," Cole jumped to his feet, "I'm gonna need some help here before the breach it and box us all in!" he started running towards the entrance of the temple, the others hot on his heels as well, though Nya stayed behind, watching Lloyd.

"Please come out of there soon… we need you green ninja… you better be okay after all of this!" she shook her head and followed the others.

"Ugh, it's Zane with the army for sure…" Seliel rolled her eyes.

Skylar smirked, "time to see what I can do now with all of this new energy!" she opened her hands up, flames bursting forth from them. "Hey, I thought the fire I stole from Kai burned out!" she blinked, confused.

"You must be able to keep with you; you absorbed it, and now you can use whatever powers you take forever…" Pixal suggested the idea.

"Sweet! I'm gonna take your guys' powers too and have a whole arsenal for myself!" she laughed, sapping Seliel and Nya next, charging a head of the others, taking Jay and the Cole as well. "Hey tin can!?" Zane looked surprised when the doors were flung open, "eat this!" she laughed, shooting a wave of fire and then slammed her hands into the ground to make the earth uneven.

"It's too late… they unlocked their true potentials…" Zane's eyes widened, not knowing how combat all of that power on his own. He stood up; placing the blade back on his belt and held his hand out, "Alright then… a fight of the elements it is…" he took a fighting stance, seeing the others appear before him.

"I wonder what else we can do now…" Seliel looked at her hands and looked at Zane. In a cloud of smoke, she vanished, reappearing behind the ice ninja, kicking a few of the warriors off a cliff and roundhouse kicking the ice ninja in the back, vanishing again before he could throw ice shards at her.

"Stay still!" he shouted at the others.

"Not a chance! It's time for some payback after all those years!" Jay's blue eyes lit up more as he started channeling a bolt of electricity through his fingertips. "Haha! I love these new super strength powers!" he crackled his knuckles, feeling his body full of energy, something he forgot he could feel.

Pixal smirked, standing behind the others as Nya jumped around; sling her arms around, a stream of water, knocking the ice ninja off his feet. The white android smirked, "We'll let you leave… on the account you do not follow us…" she started typing into her wrist pad. "Or do I have to resurface your painful memories? I have a manual switch right here that can hack back into you without a moment's hesitation…"

Zane looked up at her with defiance; he was hating every second of this. He looked to the warriors and nodded, which meant 'attack' to them. "Make sure the youngest one inside does not make it out! I will see to him myself once you have him!"

"Lloyd!" the girls turned to retreat first. "You guys handle Zane! We got this!" Seliel shouted to Cole and Jay.

The black and blue ninjas looked to the white one; oh they were pretty angry with Zane alright. "Now you get to feel everything you help do to me," he pulled out the lightning sword that sparked and crackled with electricity.

"And I'll make sure you never come after me again," Cole did the same with his own blade. "You're about to be one dented tin can!"

Zane just shrugged, "Fine, a duel it is; but be prepared to be overrun by the soldiers though," he ignited the frosty white blade of his sword, "but hey; maybe Wu will go a little easy on you when I bring you to him." And the three boys charged in at one another.

"Lloyd!?" the girls shouted; hoping that their brother was alright. "Gosh… I hope the stinker's okay…" Seliel sighed, swiping her blade. "I think some of those stone freaks got into the bell room…" she looked over her shoulder, just when three of the creatures went flying. "What?"

"Sorry I took so long guys!"

"Okay… I'm… am I going crazy guys?" Skylar stopped fighting to look at where Seliel was staring, a much taller ninja in green, black, and gold. "Or did he just get a growth spurt?"

"I have no idea why, but we need to help Cole and Jay while we're on this power hype now!" Nya ran past them, whipping the blue blade out. "Come on!" she shouted to the ones behind her, her water tornado slamming right in between the little brawl out with Zane, Cole, and Jay.

The earth and lightning masters were smart enough to dive to the sides though and let Nya toss Zane off the cliff face; which she did. "And stay away from us!" she shouted as she watched him fall flat on his back. "Are you two okay?" she panted, helping Jay up first.

"Yea, I am too thanks," Cole coughed, getting up on his own.

The black haired girl turned to look at him quietly. "Thanks… for helping Jay out here and well… sticking up for him I guess I could say…"

"Yea; whatever… it's no big deal; I wanted to crush frosty myself," Cole walked past her. "Now let's clear this temple out and grab the others to head back to the campsite. We'll need to regroup and figure out what we're going to do next now that we all have the upgrade".

"Right," Jay nodded and started running in with the other two. Cole and Jay were both also surprised to see Lloyd's seemingly new appearance. "Holy cow… Lloyd!? You're like… as tall as me now!" he shouted.

The green ninja flung two more warriors over his shoulders like they were nothing, "I know! That seems to be the big discussion right now but I'd still like some help even though I just unlocked my full potential I think…" his green Spinjitsu ignited as he was being circled.

"No time; we must escape; leave them here, they won't be fast enough to follow," Pixal started pulling the blonde by the hand while the others followed. "I am most certain Zane will either be back or simply alert to Wu about this so he'll send out a full scale hunt for us all! The longer we're away from the adults; the more in danger we are!"

* * *

It was nearly sunset when they came back to the beach and the Bounty which sat on it. Lloyd's parents were about to greet them when they stopped to stare at their son rather than greet them all back and congratulate them on their new powers.

"L-Lloyd?" Misako looked like she was just hurt. The green ninja awkwardly stood there, not knowing what to tell her; even he didn't know what was going on! "What happened up there?" she then looked to see that medallion that she gave them earlier. "Oh my…" she looked up to see Lloyd's now sad face. "Oh… it doesn't matter what you look like…" she sighed, hugging him tightly. "I just wasn't ready to let go of my baby yet I guess…"

Lloyd hugged his mother back; seeing his dad also tried to hide that similar sad face. "Sorry…"

"Don't be; this is your destiny… and I was ready to accept that…" his father sighed. The girls also thought that this new Lloyd was strange; he was now their equal for sure.

When Misako finally pulled away, her sleeve snagged on the clasp of the pendant that broke off the chain. As soon as it broke off, Lloyd looked like a ten year old again. They others stared at the boy in more surprise. "It only grants you temporary powers so…" Garmadon grabbed the medallion, "wow…" he picked Lloyd up right away. "You've had a busy day… haven't you?"

"Yea…" the blonde closed his eyes as he rested his head on his father's shoulder, sighing, come to think about it; he was feeling pretty tired now.

"About that… we should probably… talk about what happened while we were up there," Seliel scratched her cheek. The sensei knew; this would not be a very good thing.

* * *

"So… what you're telling me is… not only did the runts get away…" Wu slowly was stepping around the tent; his back towards Zane at the moment, "that my brat of a nephew just became all freaking powerful!? Unlocked the final stage of his powers?!" he turned on a heel to glare down at the ice ninja; expecting the answer.

Zane swallowed. "It… it's just as I said… sir… there was nothing I could do about it!" he nodded. "The men were so close to stopping it all, but they were just too slow… a price to pay for the heavily armored soldiers I guess…"

Wu turned and looked out of the tent at the machine they were building. "We have twelve hours left until this battle will commence… I do not need any more screw ups from either of you!" he looked to Kai as well now. "You will be on the alert and search for any sign of the ninja on this island while I finish this project here…"

"What is that heap of junk anyways? And where is the Overlord? We haven't seen him a while…" Kai looked around, frowning more that he would actually have work to do now thanks to Zane failing his mission.

The dark lord wiped his eyes, tired of the two underlings. "I told you Kai; it launches dark matter, if you touch it; you become under the command of the helmet and will get super strength and in general be an invincible zombie slave…" he quickly explained. "As for the Overlord; it's none of your business! He's checking in on the specifications to make sure we can fire at Ninjago from here! Now get moving you failures!"

"Okay okay!" Kai started out. "I'm moving!" he started pulling the white ninja by the collar of his robe. "Let's go Zane! We gotta do some damage to this idiots!"

**Ugh, sorry for not posting this two days ago, I've been stressed and just unmotivated until now to go through this... I haven't really been writing this past week which is not a good thing hah...**

**So; everyone like my idea for Lloyd? No? Too bad... if yes; then awesome; I just wanted something different where he can remain as a boy still. I told you guys that medallion thing was going to be different here ;) **

**Welp; I don't have too much to say now about this update, I know it's little shorter than the last few have been, but all the same, I hope you guys are still continually excited for the coming final chapters of this fic. Don't worry, it's not over yet lol, but it's on its way to being wrapped up. And who knows... depending on how this ends up being finished... there might be a sequel in mind... but I cannot trouble myself with such things now!**

**Thank you for reading, it's always a pleasure reading you super nice comments and it really makes me feel good about myself! I know I'm not the best fic writer out there, but I appreciate all the interest you guys take in what I make! Have a lovely day everybody!**

**~Mar**


	49. Chapter 49

"Here!" Julien raised up a little bird like contraption. "I did it! Look at this everyone!"

"Cool!" Skylar smiled for a moment at the strange endoskeleton. "What the hell is it and why should we be excited?"

"It's a drone disguised to look like a bird silly!" the white haired man explained with great enthusiasm. "That way we can find Wu's camp and spy on them and their plans of course! And they shouldn't be able to suspect that it's really us!" The others seemed to be catching on to this idea now. "I designed it to look like a falcon since I noticed plenty around this island; it shouldn't look too out of the ordinary!"

"A good idea indeed," Garmadon looked at the robot. "Of course we'll have to cover it in feathers to make it more believable… so… a falcon…" Julien nodded in confirmation. "Well then let's get moving with this; we have no idea how much time there is left to ready ourselves for whatever Wu will throw…"

"Gotcha sensei!" Jay shouted and turned to go with Cole and the girls to start readying for the fight ahead once more. They already had their powers; so that was a very good thing. On top of that; everyone started trusting in the other more and more; Cole included. They were really shaping up to be a good team altogether.

"Hey! What can I do guys?" Dareth came walking over to Garmadon, Julien, Misako, and Ronin who all just stared at him vacantly. "I mean; everyone here has a job but me… so… what is it? What's my job?" he bounced on the balls of his feet; happily awaiting the answer.

"Oh… um…" Misako bit her lip. "Well; we were thinking-"

"You have absolutely no talents to contribute so you get stuck sitting on the ship and making sure you keep out of our hair is what you get to do," Ronin bluntly said.

"RONIN!" Misako hissed, hitting him repeatedly. She glanced back to Dareth who seemed to accept those words of her brother. "Dareth; he didn't mean that! He's just a jerk, nothing new here…" she glared at the other one. "I think you should know that one by now…"

The other man shrugged a bit. "It's okay; I guess he is right; I haven't really proven much help since I woke up on the ship by accident… I'll just… be over there until you somehow need an extra pair of hands…" he started walking away towards the Bounty like what Ronin said to do so rudely. He didn't exactly seemed to be truly wounded by the comment; all the same, it was still mean.

The three other adults were glaring at the mercenary. "What? I just told him the truth!" he asked; genuinely wondering why he was being looked at in such a manner. His sister proceeded to attack her brother with repeated smacks. Garmadon and Julien refused to intervene; Ronin had a beat down from his little sister coming.

* * *

"So… everyone ready for this? Ready to… I don't even know what to call it anymore to be honest here," Seliel sat on a rock, looking out to the ocean. It was really quiet between the seven kids; which was a very rare thing to occur.

Jay shrugged a bit, looking at Nya now. "It's kind of funny… only recently I found out that Nya and I, well… we're a thing now…" he chuckled a bit; still flustered about referring to her as his girlfriend, "now we all might die… talk about a short life… I'm only seventeen and spent almost half my life as a slave! The little bit of freedom I have; I might be throwing it away," he sadly laughed more.

"And I've been training ten years of my life… my _entire life _for battle we all might die in… or at least most of us," Lloyd's eyes started to well up as he balled up more to try and hide it. "I don't wanna lose anybody… my parents… uncle Ronin… you guys…" he sniffed more. "I don't want Wu to kill you guys if we lose…"

"Oh Lloyd; please have faith us… as we have faith in you," Pixal hugged the little boy closely. "Everything will be okay; you will see".

Cole shrugged. "I have nobody… No one's gonna miss my death when it comes down to it; my own dad probably doesn't even care… you can't be worried about that Lloyd; you just gotta get the job done and get out with your life intact."

"Not all of us were trained to be ruthless killers and servants like you, you know…" Nya started playing around with the waves mindlessly. "Some of us just… well I can't say I hated living with Garmadon… it was a good thing for me maybe… especially everything with my brother… G taught me control… a whole new skill set I never knew I even had. I still would love to be a blacksmith though." She admitted.

"Sometimes you need to let go of that control though if you really want to win the fight…" Skylar looked up. "I was always told to control myself, I could never really do what I wanted… ever. I kind of felt I didn't even have a choice when I joined you nuts… but I'll admit; it's a better choice than not running away," she held her hand open, an orange mist swirling in the palm of her hand. "Some days I wonder what it would be like if I stayed…"

"We all think that Sky; especially now at the possible end of all things," Seliel spoke next. "But it was my choice to leave home, to leave my dad all alone; same as Nya; to train for this sole job. And that's what we're going to do; it doesn't matter anymore why or how we ended up here; altogether as a team; point is; like what sensei always told us; we have to work together if we want to save people. We just need to focus on right now; worry about the future when it comes"

Pixal had released Lloyd more, looking down at the beach. "Well; I do know what my future is; even if we win…" she mumbled. "And that's going back to being a servant droid. You all at least have families with each other. I am still just a piece of metal when it comes down to it".

"Shut it robo girl; you're just as important as the rest of us… and you should get the chance to make your own choices when we finish all of this!" Skylar mumbled. "Guess in the off chance we all manage to live… we should start thinking about what we're really going to do too though…" she glanced at Seliel.

Lloyd wiped his eyes more and looked at the others. "Why would anything change when we win though?" he asked them all. "Aren't we still a family no matter what? Aren't we still gonna care for each other? And help other people still; like what my dad said?" They all looked away from the ten year old in silence. "Guys!?"

"Sorry kid…" Jay sadly smiled. "It's just… you'll understand when you've experienced everything we have… if you ever do… maybe one day; after years of doing this; you'll see that every person your hurt or kill; whether they're good or bad people… it'll weigh you down… you carry that death with you forever… you won't want to keep doing crazy stuff like this in a few years; you'll be happy to let it go and finish the job you were born to do."

Lloyd's eyes grew wide when he realized what Jay said. He was expected to kill his uncle; there was no way to get around this; it was his job; not theirs. They were meant to fight by his side; not be him. On top of this; his best friends were talking about leaving when this was all over! This was way too much realization to handle all at once!

"I'm gonna throw up…" he quietly said. The others were confused for a minute before the poor kid leaned forward and actually threw up.

"Lloyd!" they all panicked and Seliel picked him up when he was done. "Hey… it's okay… you're okay…" she held him tightly now. "Come on, let's get him in his bed on the ship… he's not battle ready as of right now…" the phantom ninja murmured, rubbing her brother's back as she carried him the whole way. "You guys go see about making some lunch; maybe that'll help us all".

* * *

Julien had finished dressing the bird and it really looked like a genuine falcon; the others were impressed for sure with his handiwork. "Now all I need to do is fly it over the island and then we can really have an upper hand!" he pointed to the monitor he had set up. "We'll be able to see everything right on this screen and get coordinates on where they are!"

While the others were down on the beach with the adults now as the sun was slowly dipping back down behind the mountains and trees; Seliel was on the Bounty still; checking in on the green ninja every so often to make sure he didn't need anything more. Cole found her up there, leaning on the railing and watching the robotic falcon fly over their heads in search of Wu's camp.

"So…" he started. "Where did you come from anyways?" he asked her. The pink haired ninja raised an eyebrow with a deep frown. "What? I mean… we've encountered one another lots of times and… well; for people who hated each other; we kind of didn't know a lot about one another…"

"Hmph…" she looked away. Cole thought he wasn't going to be getting any answer out of her. Why would he? He just sounded like he was being cheesy… but she surprised him. "Birchwood… my mother died when I was little… I barely remember her to be honest… my father's a good man though; he's actually from the ice bloodline because my uncle is one… so I got my smoke powers from my mother…" she closed her hand into a fist. "That's why I signed up for this… she would have done the same in a heartbeat… I always wanted to be just like her too…"

"My mom died when I was a kid too; she was murdered in a fight… protecting me…" Cole admitted. "She was the earth master though… my dad doesn't have powers at all…" he looked at her, she was staring off at the sky now. "Maybe we aren't really all that different Sel… maybe we… understand each other perfectly…"

"If you're asking me out on a date; this is one hell of a time to be doing it; we're in the middle of a war here you dirt clod," she shot him a look. "Not to mention you have the cheesiest and cliché way with the whole _get to know me_ shtick".

Cole backed off more. "Whoa; put the guns away and get over yourself pinkie; I don't even think you're my type! I'm just trying to play nice and make friends with the rest of you." He told her. "Heh; guess it goes to show that you beating me up was just signs of the typical asshole type of crush people claim boys do to girls".

The phantom ninja folded her arms, not buying it from him. She looked out to see everyone else doing their own thing now; all they could do was wait for Julien to tell them what the falcon saw. Seliel looked back to Cole; grabbing his black tunic and yanked him closer to her. "So… mister 'I'm an ex agent of evil' all high and mighty doesn't think _I'm _his type?" she raised an eyebrow. "You think you're too good now? Even if I was interested in you?"

Cole shrugged more, glancing down. "Eh; you probably suck at kissing anyways; so what's the point in even having a 'what if' discussion about it? I mean; you're obviously too terrifying to get a date anyways from normal people, so I bet you never even kissed someone before."

He turned more away but Seliel practically attack him, jumping and knocking the earth master down on the deck of the ship. "Wanna repeat those words you jackass?" she snapped. "Or should we reenact the last time I sent you running home crying to your master Wu!?"

"You heard what I said pinkie; you don't need me to repeat that; I'm not scared of you anymore; that was four years ago," he liked the way her face scrunched up when he continued to call her that. He smirked a bit wider, loving how worked up she was getting over this.

"I hate you; you pathetic piece of crap! You have been nothing but trouble since day one that I met you! You're pathetic for surrendering to us right then and there and like that time I was kick your sorry ass on the floor as you screamed who I was and how I was better than you! Because I am better that-" she growled at him when the gray eyed teenager grabbed her waist which sent Seliel into a state of shock as she fell on top of him.

"I hate you too pinkie," he smirked back; releasing her now. "You and that sorry team you even dare call a team… it's even more pathetic since I heard from your sensei's own mouth that you're afraid to be a leader!"

"Let go of me!"

"I think I should be telling you that…" Cole laughed when she noticed he had released her before she even shouted that; she was the one gripped to his shoulders now, her cheeks still bright red.

She blushed even harder and quickly scooted off of him, allowing Cole to sit up. They both looked at one another. "That was a good kiss…" she looked away, wiping her mouth off.

"Eh; better that I expected from you…" he leaned toward her again when she said that like she didn't care. Seliel threw herself onto him again when he didn't even expect it.

"Whoa! Look at that!" Skylar pointed when she noticed the action going on up on the deck of the Bounty, up on display for them to see. She whistled and laughed more. "Woo! Look at you Sel! You finally got all over that! It only took you forever to admit it!" she clapped, looking back at the others. "You mean I was the only one who could tell this would happen?"

"AAAH! STOP LOOKING UP HERE!" Seliel screamed at the others who were all surely staring now. "WHAT DID I JUST SAY?!" Cole just laid back on the deck and loudly laughed. "SKY! I HATE YOU!"

* * *

_"__Tick tock goes the clock; counting back; cogs and springs rattle; counting down to the final battle…"_ The Overlord hissed to himself in amusement. Kai and Zane were watching the strange being go about the camp when he took notice of them. _"Oh; so it's the brats Wu still keeps around… who's turn is it next to run away? Hmm?"_

Kai and Zane looked less than amused by the ball of gas. "You know we don't trust you…" Kai folded his arms. "And it's totally true because we don't".

_"__What would you say to a truce then you idiots_?" The Overlord asked the ninja.

"We're loyal to Wu if that is what you are implying," Zane mechanically said. "We don't like how you go about this whole idea; you will be watched…" the ice ninja walked by first; looking for Wu with his fellow fire user. "Oh he is most up to something…"

"Heh; of course when it comes to power and shit; everyone wants a piece of the action… Well we've been here since the beginning and he's just not gonna swoop in and think he can get a better piece of this!" Kai looked back over his shoulder to see the Overlord was no longer there. "Plus… he just creeps me out… I always feel like we're being watched by him…"

"Because we probably are; even right this moment," Zane shrugged. "It can't be helped; he knows how we view him… shame Wu doesn't seem to think he is a threat to the plans".

"Just be on guard…" Kai whispered; even more paranoid now.

_"__Oh I will teach those brats a lesson I hope they will never forget…"_ The Overlord chuckled more as he watched the boys walk away to find their master.

* * *

Pixal perked up in her bed. "The time is drawing much nearer," she whispered. The others who were half asleep looked at her. "Can you feel it? Like the world is a countdown clock… and it will be upon us within the next few hours… it is time…"

"I'm scared…" Nya admitted. She didn't sound like it though. She was just staring at the roof of the room, lying next to Jay since they were short on beds what with unexpected team members like Darreth and Cole.

"Me too…" Lloyd was curled up under his blanket; still pale and feeling sick about all of this.

Cole let out a sigh before opening his eyes. "Trust me Lloyd; you're not the only one who's felt the same on their first go round… I was scared the first time I… well, I guess we were trusted with something…" the black haired teenager looked over to Jay who nodded. "I didn't want to kill anyone either… but that was different… we were sent to kill someone innocent and helpless… you have to kill someone who ruined the lives of all of us in some way… don't feel bad about it…"

"But he's family… even if he's not actually a part of our family…" the green ninja mumbled bitterly. "Dad still calls him his brother".

"He tried to have you killed Lloyd," Skylar sat up with an angry look on her face. "You can't just… call him innocent when you think like that! Look at my father… he was horrible! He was still my dad but I threatened to kill him; I hurt him; I turned him in and locked him up where he belonged because he was a bad guy and I refuse to be associated with him! Your uncle is a dark lord hell bent on… you should know by now okay!? We grew up hearing all this mumbo jumbo… you know what's going on; don't keep your head in the sand because your uncle will never change!"

"He's still just a little kid… go easy on him Sky," Jay spoke up next. "Not all of us can be as insane as you are to betray evil family members…"

"I'm not insane…" the amber ninja frowned more.

"No but I saw what you did to Zane at the temple… you were already to throw in off the cliff; even if you knew he would die for sure," the lightning master reminded her. "It's like with all of us… it's control…"

"Control of your emotions, or personal ideals… or maybe even your own powers," Seliel kept her eyes closed as her head rested on Cole's shoulder. Her sadly; it was her bed that had to be given to the next room over for Darreth to use so she and Cole had to share Jay's bed. "Point is guys… if we don't act as a team tomorrow; more now than ever; we're going to fall apart and lose this for real; too much is at stake".

"We know…" Nya sighed. "We know…"

"I… have control… right?" Skylar looked over to Pixal who shrugged a bit.

"You do not always use the sounder options in battle; you do normally charge in headfirst and ask questions later… including killing enemies sometimes… you also like to constantly use the explosives or anything that will make a big entrance; that I assume is from your theatrics loving father."

"Pfft… I can be controlled…" the amber ninja turned away, sighing. _"Or maybe I am the crazy one of this team… as it is I haven't been able to teach a thing… Nya taught Lloyd Spinjitsu and kendo, Seliel taught him how to use all the cool weapons she likes, and Pixal taught him all the programmed moves and forms she has… what is there for me? They have it all covered… Pixal isn't the least useful when it comes to helping Lloyd learn survival…"_

_"__It's me…"_

* * *

"Oh look; there's Wu…" Kai sighed, "Come on Zane! He's in his tent…" the two continued it. "Listen master; we got to let you know something-"

"Boys! Oh good; I've been looking for you two all over the place!" The dark lord cut them off; not caring about what they had to say. "I have something I would love to try out and you two would be perfect for this".

The two teenagers looked at one another in confusion now. "Um; what is this exactly about?"

"Dark matter!"

"We know; it's used to power you super weapon thing-" Zane was cut off this time.

"Yes that!" Wu started in again. "When it touches mortals… it is supposedly to enhance their strength and abilities in general…" he swished around a tray full of the strange black liquid. "And since you two have stuck around this long… ready for another upgrade that will help you in the fight with the sissies and the traitors?"

Kai and Zane didn't know how to feel about this now. They did say they were loyal to him and that they would trust him… "I guess it couldn't exactly hurt for us to…" Kai mumbled to Zane who shrugged. "Okay I guess?" he told Wu for the both of them.

Wu smirked now, "Good to hear that?" he pretty much flung the dark matter on his last two students. He enjoyed seeing the two confused boys' skin turn gray. "Oh; it also turns you into a completely obedient slave I found out!" he laughed. "The Overlord said you two were offering a deal to kill me and take over with him yourselves huh!?"

"WHAT?!" Kai shouted, wincing when his brown eyes started to glow bright purple. "He offered us that! Not the other way around!" he coughed.

"Jay and Cole left… now you two… I expected more… especially from you Kai…" Wu shook his head looking at the red clothed one. "Well now you won't ever disobey or betray me!" he stood up and dusted his hands off; leaving them to finish their transformation. "Now it's time to finish the final touches on my plan to rule Ninjago!" he laughed more at how clever he was.

**Well... we covered a WHOLE lot of bases in this one... eh? But... lol you thought that Ronin would be getting the dark matter treatment lol...**

**Oh; before I forget; as a side not to the anon that thought Sky was overpowered? You do realize that it is canon that she can keep powers indefinitely? Right? She only loses them forever when her father used her for the spell that sucked the powers, even her own amber ones, from her body. I only made that not the case at first in this fic so it would seem like she gets a way better upgrade instead f just a rinkydink sword? Besides; Lloyd is basically a god now that he has the creation powers and all the elements? Eve if right now it's only when he wears the pendant; when he's actually older, in his teen years, he gets those powers permanently as well... but you don't seem to think he; the freaking chosen one is over powered? Is it a gender thing or?**

**I don't mean to sound rude or call you out, but since your a guest this was the only way to respond to your comment. Besides; when have I ever truly written over powered characters in any of my fics? One chapter into her testing out her new ability and you think she's overpowered?**

**Okay... moving on from that... damn, this one is so looooong... 6 pages in my doc... but aaw, look; Coliel is a thing now. They're basically assholes to each other... but in a 'couple' way? Honestly; I love Coliel almost as much as Garsako... which... there hasn't been that many of those... has there? Ooh, I need some angsty shit to go down between them soon... also; don' worry; Dareth will get his time to shine. **

**I feel bad because I feel like the adults are almost all forgotten in the latest updates... Like I said, I'm looking to include them all more again; it's kind of about the teenagers going through the whole existential crisis thing I constantly am in a state of... because we've seen the adults worry plenty of times. I feel it's just more... well, it's better to have the kids be more carefree about it until 'oh shit; we might die during this throw down...' kind of a parallel with the boys early on in the story with baby Lloyd, as I referenced...**

**On a side note, if you're all wondering why there is kind of some 'backsliding' in Ronin's character development and he's just being a plain asshole now when he does show up... I have legit reasons why he's such a crabby little piece of crap lately (I mean, more than normal; ya know?), and hopefully you won't hate what I do with it :)))**

**Okay so this was long and I'm sorry... it's like... midnight... I'm tired... I should go to sleep now... **

**HAHAHA, ok but seriously; thank you so much for reading, I'll see you all later and I hope you continue to enjoy my updates :3**

**~Mar**


	50. Chapter 50

"Alright; everyone get it where the camp is now? About a hundred or so yards from the base of the mountain that the Temple of Light is on," Garmadon folded his arms as he stood before the teenagers with the other adults. "Because it's time to end this; you all saw the footage; they're building some kind of canon and that can't be good".

"We're ready…" Seliel sighed, patting Lloyd on the head. "Well… as about as ready as we can be I mean…"

Garmadon sighed, looking down at his son as well. "We'll be right behind you Lloyd; I promise; you don't have to do this completely by yourself". He then looked to Skylar, "No pressure; but it's recommended that you handle the whole controlling of powers thing now, Lloyd still isn't quite adjusted to using multiple attacks of different elements on command like you".

"I'll handle it; you didn't have to tell me to do that," the amber ninja folded her arms as well, looking away.

"Okay then, noted…" Garmadon shrugged. "Sharpen the other weapons and pack the camp up because we have twenty minutes until we set out".

Misako looked to the others, "Okay now Julien; you're in charge of the Bounty until we can return; Dareth…" she addressed next. "We're going to need you standing by on the radio in case we need some back up… think you can handle that? This will be a very important job."

"Aye aye! You can count on me to do just that! Just say the word and we'll swoop in and save the day for you!" the man in question straightened up and bolted up the ramp to the control room, finally happy to be given something to do. He wouldn't screw this up!

"Yes, we will be standing by to help in any way that we can," Julien nodded and followed Dareth onto the ship. "I'll be using the falcon to check in and follow you all around".

* * *

Ronin was found sitting on a rock; looking into the woods with a frown. His sister raised an eyebrow; he seemed to be acting more different than usual, like how he used to look when he was hunting or on guard for trouble. She noticed he sat up more now; fully alert. "Everyone stop what you're doing! Something's comi-"

Out of nowhere; something… or someone jumped out of the jungle and slammed Ronin to the ground. Misako quickly pulled out her scythe and used the staff end to swat whatever it was off of him. "Oh no…" she bit her lip when she saw who it was that crashed their camp. "WE HAVE A PROBLEM GUYS!"

Ronin jumped to his feet. "Geez… just when I thought I hated those boys before…" he growled. "What the hell is up with them now? I don't remember being this rabid!" he looked to his little sister again. "Why are they all… dead looking? They kind of creep me out now…"

"They're not dead; I think they're considered to be… possessed or something," she took a small step back, pulling him with her as they watched the two. "I know there was once these things called dark matter stones and… I think this has something to do with that… it's supposed to give them insane strength or something… but also had other affects…" she swallowed, turning to run back.

* * *

Skylar sighed, "Alright… this is going to be a hard thing for me to explain… but... when you have more than one ability… you need to be in control of which one you want to use and when on command," she was talking to Lloyd. "Put the medallion on so I can show you." She pointed to the pendant and the boy put it around his neck as instructed. "Now; we share most of the same elements right now. I have fire, earth, and lightning, not to mention water and smoke from Seliel and Nya, but you also have ice along with your own green energy, I don't have either of those".

"Uh huh…" Lloyd nodded.

"As I learned since I was really young; fire is your anger; the core of your passions, the ice is your level headedness; calmness under pressure, earth is your inner strength as well as your courage, and the lightning is your intellect; it's your speed and ingenuity… And your creation energy is your core that binds all of them together; it's what defines you. You're basically a walking power cell of god," the dark skinned girl explained.

Lloyd frowned, looking at his hands and listened to her explanation. "How do you know all of this stuff anyways? It couldn't have been your dad who taught you all of that…"

She shrugged and looked back up at the blonde. "I told you; Clouse was more of a father to me even if he didn't let anyone else see he could be nice if her wanted to; he was the only other person I knew with powers; so he taught me about elements and all that since he _was _a part of the Serpentine War and knew all the masters".

"Ah…"

"LESSON'S OVER KIDS! WE HAVE COMPANY!" Misako jumped onto the ship. "We gotta hurry; my brother can't hold them back forever you know…"

"MISAKO! I THINK THE LITTLE SHITS BROKE MY ANKLE! I'M DOWN!"

"Like that…" she pointed behind her.

The green ninja slid down the ramp with Skylar while his mother went to grab his father and the others to deal with the situation. "I guess it's time to put the crash course for a test run…" Lloyd swallowed as they approached the new Kai and Zane.

"Right…" Skylar rolled her eyes; angry that she couldn't show him properly. "At least I can add ice to my collection now…" she mumbled to herself. "Okay Lloyd; watch how this is done," she cracked her knuckles with a bit of a smirk. "I'll just use the main elements for demonstration".

Lloyd stopped running when she charged ahead of him, surprised to see she was fearless to face the enemies. He supposed she was always incredibly headstrong and could care less about the fear of getting maimed or beaten up. That was how she earned the title 'the rebel' by his father of course. She almost never did as she was told yet somehow got away with everything because she would actually get the job done in the end.

As Zane came to throw a shuriken at her, she ducked and grabbed a hold of his arm, flinging him over, though she was obviously straining her muscles because he was quite heavy. Lloyd noticed her orange mist as she sapped another element to her collection. "Now… what is from the source of anger and passion?!" she looked to Lloyd who he assumed was prompted to aid her in this now.

"Fire…" Lloyd ducked from a high kick from Zane as he unleashed a plume of fire up at the white and black clothed one who did his best to block.

"What comes from the source of your peace and levelheadedness in a combat situation!?" she pulled out her elemental blade to clash with Kai's to defend herself.

Lloyd nodded, following with her to blast Kai with a face full of frosty white ice shards. "Ice!" he answered.

"Oh my gosh! We gotta help them!" Nya gasped when she looked over the railing of the Bounty when Garmadon held his hand out to stop them.

He shook his head, "If you would pay attention; this is a teaching moment for both of them; we will help in a minute," he smiled a bit when he noticed Skylar was finally working as a team with someone and not insisting to do things on her own.

"The quick reflexes and wit you possess to get an advantage over your enemy?"

"Lightning!" Lloyd smiled a bit, though he was getting tired from having to dodge the attacks. He spread his arms apart while Skylar was at his back; zapping both Kai and Zane together, though it wasn't nearly as powerful as what Jay could have done; he was still new to this though. The assassins slid back in the dirt and sand, falling to one knee, but appeared to get back up. "They sure don't quit; do they?"

"Yea; I hate it too," the red head growled. "Your inner strength and the courage to face your enemy head on?"

"Earth!" Lloyd smirked when he knew what that meant as he stomped his feet; allowing the ground around them to crack open, jagged rocks shooting out of it.

Skylar had a devious smirk now on her face. "Now you go for the kill-"

"Sky!" Lloyd frowned at her.

"Fine; knock them out and we can try to at least contain them in some way," she looked over to the others. "Don't just stand there you idiots! HELP US!" she angrily zapped Kai back and looked to Zane. "Ugh; watch it frosty or I'll fry your circuits for good!" she was then grabbed from behind by Kai who was back on his feet. "HEY!"

Lloyd whirled around and threw one of his own green energy balls at the red ninja who got knocked out again. "Wow; they just got a whole lot tougher for sure…" he panted, wiping his face. "I tag out… I'm out!" he stepped back when Zane got back up.

"We gotcha Lloyd!" Nya slid in with Jay while Pixal stood behind, trying to switch him off again when her eyes widened.

"Oh no…"

"I don't like how you just said that," Skylar looked upset. "Oh no what!?"

"Whatever Wu did to them… I can't hack into Zane's servers anymore… I can't at least shut him down like I did before… this was not accounted for!" Pixal slouched, sheepishly smiling. "Oops?"

"That is not an 'oops'! That's a 'we're screwed if we can't at least trap them'!" Jay shouted as he and Nya tag teamed Zane now.

"Hey, I have an idea!" Misako shouted, helping her brother up now before running to their side. "Kay, I'm going to need Nya, Sky, and Lloyd to be ready to use any ice and water powers…" she stretched her fingers out before balling them up into fists. "I'm going to take the ground from under them and make a pit; be ready to freeze it over…"

"Kay but… fire powers!" Seliel pointed to Kai.

"I know it won't hold for long but we need to have enough time to get out of here and to the camp hopefully before they can catch up! We can worry about them after we stop Wu from trying to take over the world! We can make the ice thick enough where it won't be melted so quickly," Misako shushed the pink haired ninja and started acting on her plan. "Get back you two!" she warned Nya and Jay quickly so they wouldn't get stuck in the ditch with their enemies.

Like planned; the ground formed into a ditch and the two bad ninja fell down while Nya flooded the bottom with water and Skyar iced it all over, even the opening of ditch. "That should stall them I guess… let's go right now!" Nya turned to start running.

"We're going to have to move the ship for now; away from here for sure," Garmadon told Julien as they started to fire up the rockets. "Then we head for the camp on foot the rest of the way".

"Sounds good to me…" Julien sadly sighed. "Guess my boy is really long gone now; you know?"

"I'm sure there will be a way to reverse what's been done to him," the sensei looked down, feeling bad now. "I promise I'll save him… to make up for not saving your wife I guess…" he turned to head to the deck once more as they took off. "HEY!" he snapped at Skylar who looked like she was expecting some kind of scolding. "You did good…"

The red head looked surprised, there would be no yelling about plowing into a fight again? "Well… Lloyd's pretty smart after all… I guess… I didn't do anything…" she looked away.

"I saw you… you taught him control in under ten minutes…" he held a hand to her shoulder. "Just try to cheer up and continue to want to be a team with the others… I know you plan on leaving after this is over…" She looked ashamed now. "I know it's your choice; but you will always have a home with Misako and I. We honestly just want you to be happy… and you're not some one man army; even though you have all the elements of one."

Skylar wiped her eyes that started to water up now. "I still don't think that after all these years I could really have a family you know." she shook her head.

"Is that why you like to go off and do your own thing despite what I say?"

"I'm just used to doing that because of my dad I guess…" she looked away, hesitating; but went to hug the older man. "You may have brought me in when I was little; but I just… guess I'll always be a Chen on the inside… I kept saying I'd use my mom's name because I wanted to be like her… but I'm nothing like an honorable Hikori Amber master… am I? I even steal elements to benefit myself… just like my dad…"

"You proved today that you were just as honorable and care about the others on this team when you helped Lloyd and was one of the first to jump in and fend off the boys. Your ancestors were teachers of the elements; not thieves Sky; they just wanted to understand all of the elements and learn and help others learn."

In all honesty; Garmadon had known this admission was a few years in the coming to hear from her. She was always the wild child of the group; she liked violence and aggression towards others; she wanted to be the lone ranger of the group instead of a team player; it was just the traits of her father trying to show up in her. Skylar was the most closed off of the four as; being she came from an abusive home she never wished to talk about. Even she would say she was having an identity issue as of late.

"Come on; I think you need to get your arrows ready… we're going to land in a minute and then there will be no time for breaks," Garmadon quietly told her, patting her back a bit. "Like I said… you're not your father… you never will be… no matter how much you think you are… I knew your dad a while; and I can safely say you care way too much for people".

"MY LEG!"

"OH BE QUIET! YOU JUST SPRAINED IT A LITTLE! I THINK I WOULD KNOW IF YOU BROKE YOUR LEG OR NOT! Put a splint and you'll be already to go!"

The two looked over to see Misako and Ronin shouting at each other.

"Okay… here we go I guess…" Lloyd looked at the pendant in his hands he had removed as the ship rocked a bit when landing amongst the trees of the new hiding place for the Bounty. "Let's go save the world…" he looked to his best friends; the ones he was raised knowing.

"We got this…" Jay smiled, giving a thumbs up.

"Right…" The little boy nodded, gave a little bit of a nervous smile, and the ninja took off while the final hour of the clock counted down.

**First off; sorry there are any weird mistakes with dialogue or something; I literally had reread this one at least five times now and I'm sick of rereading it XP I did my best so yea; that's what matters. But hey Skylar finally finds her place as educating Lloyd in the use of multiple attacks...**

**Okay; anyways... guess what? I finished writing this whole thing guys... yea... I'm serious... the only thing left to do is to revise everything and fix it up but I swear; this will be done withing the next two weeks. The grand total is 55 chapters so that means only 5 more to go! So if you see me remove it from my line up on my profile; that is why. And if you're wondering how I can wrap all of this up so quickly? One of the chapters is like 4,000 words... so these are long suckers...**

**Also; Black King will be started up again soon as well but I want to get more revision for this story done first and foremost. But yes; isn't this exciting now!? **

**So thank you guys so much for reading! (btw... I may or may not be planning a sequel for this? But it won't be written for a while if everything goes to plan... it's... going to be quite different but it will be a mash up of seasons again; just like this one... oh man I hope you guys like this final arc of the story!)**

**~Mar**


	51. Chapter 51

"Thirty minutes left…" Wu tapped his foot impatiently as he kept muttering how much time was left as it ticked down. He didn't want to wait any longer! He wanted that canon to be fully ready and the world to be his already!

_"__Patience_ _Wu… it won't be much longer; if you are worried about your brother; you shouldn't be; you know I sent your boys to take them out. They are much stronger now and will surely be able to do some damage to those weaklings," _the Overlord tried to assure the dark lord. _"The canon is about ready, I promise you that"._

"I will not be calm until I see the dead body of that blonde brat who is trying to undermine everything I've worked to achieve here!" Wu snapped back viciously now, stalking away from the cloud of purple and black. "Get the canon to the beach if it's so ready; I want to waste no time in doing this!"

_"__Of course Lord Wu…"_ The Overlord followed him. _"But first… I would like to let you in on a little secret I have kept for a very long time… since the end of the first battle with your father…" _he stopped Wu who turned around with a frown. _"You were never the one in control of all of this! It was all me who organized how your life would go…" _He laughed at the strange look of surprise on the other's face. "_And like you students… you are mine now…"_

* * *

Lloyd was doing his best to keep up with the others; he didn't want to use his pendant yet though; just in case he would get tired out on the run over to the camp since they _had_ to go on foot. He took his eyes off the road and looked around at everyone else; they had abandoned their homes and ways of life for him to make new ones. They were giving a huge sacrifice to ensure the world would be safe; that would be something Lloyd could never get his head around. Even some selfish mercenary like Ronin was on their side now!

Then he looked to his parents; the people who brought him into the world and protected him through every hardship and threat that came to him. It must have been killing them to know he was eventually going to have to stand on his own when it finally would come down to it. It would take even more strength to watch him go on ahead of them.

They finally reached the camp…

Only to find that the place was completely desolate; everything taken down and moved out.

The ninja stared around them in dead silence now. "I… I don't get it… Where did they all go?" Jay looked around, stunned to see that not a trace of Wu or the army could be seen throughout the grounds. "Great! I bet they all moved! Now what!?"

"Hey…" Ronin tapped Misako's shoulder. "Wasn't there a tank of some sort? When the bird was flying overhead?" he pointed to tread tracks.

"Good idea…" she nodded and turned to the kids. "How do you hunt for wolves?" she posed the question. "Follow the tracks".

The seven teenagers swallowed hard when they saw the tracks, this path would lead them to the end of the line for sure. "I think this leads to the beach actually… which would allow for clearer targeting!" Pixal spoke up as she scanned the path. "Let us hurry then if we are to really stop them!"

And the team started off, following the tread tracks that were still quite fresh; all the way out to the west side beach that you could see Ninja from. Sitting in the sand; was a huge fire powered weapon that being aimed to the mainland.

As soon as they came out of the jungle; a strange horn started blaring throughout the island, making the others plug their ears to try and deafen the noise a little bit. "That means the battle has to start I think… this is it!" Misako shouted.

"HEY!" Nya angrily shouted to grab Wu's attention as the sound started dying down.

When the figure they identified as Wu turned around; he looked completely different; even more terrifying than before; which froze the teenagers in their place as they stared at the strange new face that was on the dark lord.

"He looks like… a weird lizard or something," Seliel observed, noticing these stubby little wings, "It's some kind of dragon guys…" Then she had realized that the Overlord was nowhere to be seen.

"So it was him pulling all the strings; looks like the fight never truly was with Wu I guess, everything was just made to look like it to through us off," Garmadon gripped his staff tightly, slowly reaching for the sword that was strapped to his back. "But he is the vessel you still will have to destroy… so I guess it is partially true…"

"It's possessed him!?" Jay blurted the question out, covering his mouth.

"_Hahaha! You all are truly ignorant idiots…" _The Overlord shook his head. _"Especially that stupid excuse for a dark lord I took the body of… My my; he was far easier to lure into this than I would have thought! I guess that is the trick with people like him though; you just promise them everything and they will willingly trust you until it's too late. I'm happy I got my snake to bite him instead of you! You would have been far more annoying to deal with! Probably would be complaining about how you'd rather your son survive… but Wu hates the brat's guts so this is much better." _He pointed to Garmadon.

"Sent after? What?" Cole blinked. "That was just a freak thing… right?"

_"__No no no; I sent my pet; The Great Devourer out so that it might bite a child of my greatest enemy as payback for trapping me on this cursed plot of land! And Wu was the perfect one to go after; he already didn't have the girl he wanted… or the life of a war hero…"_ He smirked at Garmadon and Misako. _"He was already the runt of the litter and that was something I could mold into what I needed!" _

"Well it doesn't matter who I fight! I'm still gonna win this and destroy you so you can never hurt people ever again!" Lloyd growled, throwing his medallion back on.

The Overlord shrugged and slammed his hand down on a switch which made the machine start to rumble around as it warmed up. "_You all talk too much; do you know that?"_

**_CANON FIRING UP_**

The computer started chiming as the Stone Warriors started loading in huge firing rounds filled with the dark matter they had been mining. "There're going to start turning everyone in Ninjago into those zombie minions like Kai and Zane!" Skylar covered her mouth, just thinking of fighting all of them off gave her a headache.

"No way in hell are we going to be able to destroy that hunk of metal though… even all of us combined." Seliel started shaking a bit. "Especially with all of those warriors around to guard it…"

Nya stepped forward, "Are we cowards or are we ninja!?" she shouted at them all, throwing her hood over her hair. "Because I was trained to be a Master of Spinjitsu! Some wads of clay and dirt aren't going to stop me from beating the shit out of that guy!"

"Atta girl Nya…" Ronin chuckled, gripping his glaive tightly. "Kick his ass sweetheart".

The black haired girl ran first without waiting for anyone else to decide what to do; even past Lloyd who got hold of his senses and charged ahead with her. She was the one he knew the longest; they were practically actual brother and sister.

"NYA! WAIT UP FOR US! WE'RE WITH YOU!" Jay cried; not liking this; but didn't want the girl he loved to fight on her own with just Lloyd; this was going to be a team thing now and they had to work together.

"Screw it; Nya's right," Skylar sucked in a breath and joined in, grabbing Pixal by the arm, taking her completely off guard, almost tripping for the first few steps. "Come on robo girl! If we have to go down than so do you!"

Cole and Seliel glanced at one another; hearing the sounds of the other Spinjitsu tornadoes and the growling of the Stone Warriors as they all engaged in combat. "So Pinkie…" Cole started. "After this… how about we have our first date?"

"We probably won't even make it out alive…" she took half a step forward pulling her smoky steel blade out.

"I'm buying," he took it as a challenge.

She frowned more and sighed, "Yea… sure… why not? Only if we get desert," she brought her blade around and gripped it tight as she prepared to run for it. "Race you to the battle zone," she vanished into smoke with a wicked smirk.

"No fair!" Cole shouted as he started running.

She laughed a bit when reappearing at her sister's sides. "First things first! We need to destroy the rest of those shells so they don't have any ammo!" the phantom ninja pointed to the pile of rounds yards away. "He already fired off two!"

"Yes; one more and then it's all over and they'll have enough of the land in darkness to be able to return to Ninjago!" Misako swooped in with what looked to be the golden scythe. The others were staring at how she swung it around like it was like any old weapon. "I know you haven't really seen this thing in action…" she scraped the sickle with the stone army's swords, "but we all need to focus here…"

"Damn… I forgot she was an earth master…" Cole whispered as he brought his sword around on another warrior.

"Right… focus…" Seliel nodded and puffed out and reappeared on the pile of dark matter shells. "Sorry boys but I can't allow you to use these again! They're being confiscated," She sliced her blade down, chopping the arms off the minions but then noticed one was already loaded in. "Guys! Stop Wu… the Overlord- YOU KNOW WHO I MEAN!"

"I'm on it Seliel!" Lloyd nodded and looked up at where his possessed uncle was standing; ready to fire one more round into Ninjago. He jumped up; landing on the platform where he caught the attention of his enemy. "You're not going to win this… I won't let you," he breathed, taking his stance; hands glowing green.

_"__The amazing thing about the heroes… they always die,_" The Overlord slowly said just before he unleashed a huge pulse of dark energy that took the boy completely off guard, barely allowing time to even try to block the attack with a proper energy shield.

Lloyd tried to hold it back with his own powers, but it was no use and he was flung off the platform into the sandy beach. "LLOYD!" Misako shouted and fought harder; trying to get through the mess of soldiers that just kept coming, not allowing her to help.

The blonde tiredly sat up on his own. He could see Pixal swiping her electric green blade through two more warriors; Jay and Skylar tag teaming, creating a single beam of electrified water through the oncoming hoard while Seliel and Cole were trying to open the hatch to unload the last round while Nya was switching off with Ronin, fighting off the general Kozu.

Lloyd could barely see his own parents at the moment, but he flinched when they all heard the final round be fired into Ninjago. "DAMNIT!" he heard Cole shout as some of the bigger underlings beat him down from the loading hatch.

"_Before I go… maybe I should kill you for good measure you green brat!" _The Overlord jumped down and was right over poor Lloyd, going to swipe for the medallion and snap it off its chain. "_I think it'll be more fun to have you die in your true form… coward…"_ he hissed with laughter when Lloyd struggled to get away more.

"NO!" he shouted and sent a green colored electrical energy pulse at the dark lord who was blasted into the sand now as well.

"YOU CAN DO IT LLOYD! STOP HIM!" Skylar shouted as the others were occupied with defending themselves now.

The Overlord laughed a bit; stumbling to his feet while Lloyd got back up as well. "_You know… you kill me… you kill your uncle…"_

Lloyd swallowed hard, closing his eyes and remembering what the others said to him. "My uncle tried to kill me since I was a baby… he's evil and I need to stop him… I get it now."

"_Okay… but he was only like that because of me you know… maybe if I unfuse our souls now… he could be normal again… just like your father… and maybe in the end you can all be a nice and happy little family… safe and together if you somehow possibly beat me,"_ the Overlord taunted the poor boy. Lloyd hesitated after he was told this; but something different happened he didn't see coming.

"Don't listen to him Lloyd! Just kill me!"

"Wu?" Garmadon froze when he heard the voice shout at his son and turned around to see the possessed form that was his evil brother change for a split second; not the whole body; but he could never forget his little brother's face.

Lloyd was confused now and didn't know what was going on. _"You be quiet!" _ The Overlord snapped back into control, the purple eyes and dragon snout returning. _"You don't get a say anymore you pathetic weakling!" _

"Please Lloyd! Just kill me!"

"I…"

_"__SILENCE!" _

Lloyd closed his eyes and took the shot anyways.

The Overlord dodged it for the most part; his right side getting hit with the blast; but he was still in full control of the body, it seemed they would be hearing no more from Wu. _"You idiots over there! We're going to Ninjago now!" _he jumped back on the tank, addressing his army. "_But first… how about we wipe this runt off the face of the earth!?"_ he aimed the canon at Lloyd.

As soon as the round went off, in the split second they all thought the fight would be finished; the Bounty flew right in front of the blast out of nowhere; though it made a rough landing not far away.

Lloyd was found to be huddled in a ball, the chain to the pendant was broken and he was a child again. Garmadon and Misako pushed through the other kids who were around him and picked him up; both hugging him tightly. "Oh Lloyd…" the mother started crying a little bit. "Are you okay!?" she looked him over. His nose was bleeding a bit and he had some scratches on his face; he remained unresponsive, but was breathing.

"We can't just let them get away now though!" Nya bit her lip; ready to charge after the rolling tank as it went through a portal to the mainland. "At least we still have Kai and Zane trapped away I gu-"

She had spoken too soon because, the two possessed ninja just ran past; just in time to make their getaway with their new dark master. The portal they had jumped through shut and they felt like their world was beginning to crumble around them.

"We… failed…" Seliel just blankly stared at where the portal just was.

The sensei closed his eyes, hating to hear the smoke master say those words. "We're all alive… that's what counts right now…" Garmadon quietly said as he picked Lloyd up more off the ground. "Come on; he'll be okay; let him sleep for now and we'll come up with an idea."

* * *

Aboard the Bounty, it wasn't too bad of damage, but there were signs of being in a crash for sure. Julien and Dareth were in the control room; seeming to be perfectly fine other than maybe being a bit shaken up. "So how did you guys know we needed some help?" Ronin asked, looking around at some of the cracked screens and other busted controls.

"Thank Dareth; he was the one that saw the whole fight going south while I was making some adjustments to the controls and wasn't paying attention!" Julien spoke up. "He just fired everything up and off we went; just in time too! It looked like Lloyd could have been toast if we didn't get here just in time!"

"Thanks Dareth," Nya sniffled, hugging him. "Lloyd was almost dead!"

"Aw shucks," the other man seemed embarrassed now, hugging the smaller girl back. "I was just doing what I thought would help out the most".

"Well; thanks… again," Nya smiled more, hugging him tighter. "Thanks for saving my little brother Dareth".

"But what even happened down there on the beach? Are we going to be going back to Ninjago to catch up with them all?" Julien adjusted his glasses and frowned, thinking about how their ship was damaged and beaten up thanks to the Overlord stunt. "It'll take some time to fix this again…"

Nya and Jay looked at one another deeply sighed in unison. "We'll get on it I guess… for our parents… they're all still there… back home," Jay wiped his face. "I wonder if they're all those zombie things now".

"We cannot worry about that right now; there is no time for that," Pixal even sounded all choked up; thinking about her maker, Cyrus. "We must focus on ending the Overlord's plans, maybe then we can reverse everything and Lloyd will be able to fix this all for us".

"While you fix this place up; we'll work on getting Lloyd all better to try again," Misako kissed Lloyd's cheek and helped her husband carry him into the sleeping quarters downstairs. "It looks like it's going to be a very dark day in Ninjago…"

**Okay, I know I just uploaded a new update yesterday... but I couldn't wait! I don't, I feel... why drag it out if I have most of it finished? I have to go over the next one but it should be out in like... 2 days now lol. I want to get the rest up soon for you guys because I know this fic was a super big deal for a lot of you and I want to just say thank you for taking interest.**

**But yea, anyways... um... is it self-centered or arrogant that I honestly am in love with how I have the Final Battle happen? Because I kind of am XD I mean; I'm confident you guys will like it but... Idk what I'm think but rereading the last chapters I just think it was some of my best work and it's not some butchered/bullshitted way to end the series and there's no... I guess backsliding in character development? *casually looks to all the recent seasons of Ninjago* **

**Anyways; thank you thank you for reading! I'll see you guys later this week! :)**

**~Mar**

**PS... sequel is now confirmed; I repeat, a sequel for this is now confirmed... though it probably will not be as long as this one is... but I hope you guys get excited and start wondering what I could possibly do with a sequel to this lol**


	52. Chapter 52

"Kas? Do… you hear people screaming outside?" Namiko looked up from the book she was reading and turned to her husband who was also thinking the exact same thing:

Something was very wrong out there.

The couple looked out the window to see people running away from the town, a strange purple mist starting to spread across the land; turning it all gray and dark. The water and fire masters looked at one another and knew something was clearly not right with this picture. Kasai grabbed his wife's wrist and pulled her along; away from the house.

"Come on; we need to help keep everyone safe… or whoever's left I guess; I'll call the other masters and see what the hell is going on with this thing! I'm sure someone around here has to know!" he bit his lip, starting to remember what his daughter was saying the last time the others stopped by. "This must be a part of that day of darkness final battle stuff Garmadon and the kids were talking about going to stop… looks like they couldn't prevent it from coming here…"

"I guess so Kas," Namiko nodded, looking back to her husband once more; it had been a while since they had fought in a war, looks like they would have get thrown back into one. She was prepared to do anything to help her daughter who was out there somewhere trying to fight this. "We should go to the monastery; Tanaka and Neuro are there watching the place over while the others were gone; maybe we can think of something to do together until the kids return to help."

"Okay; that sounds like a plan then," the fire master nodded, scratching his beard more; thinking on it quickly. "I guess it would be a good idea to get as many masters together as we can possibly get from the surrounding area. Okay; come on Nami; we know our job now! We can cut through this way to get there faster without getting touched by that… whatever!"

The two ran as fast as their legs would allow it; down the road that was still clear and untainted by whatever darkness was creeping along the valley that was their home, wondering just how this all would play out for them.

* * *

Misako stared at her baby boy; he was so small for ten years old still, he would probably follow her and be on the short side. She was there alone though watching him and hoping he would wake up soon; everyone else working on fixing the Bounty in time to try and help the people of Ninjago fight back. "Lloyd… I'm sorry… you must be so weak from that… it's my fault; I should have been right there with you… to protect you when you got hit like that…"

"You like to blame yourself for stuff you can't control too now? Looks like your stupid husband is rubbing off on you after all!" Misako audibly groaned when she heard her brother's voice come into the room. "You know it's true sis".

"Leave me alone Ronin…" she closed her eyes. "I don't want your crabbier than normal attitude here to bug me when I'm already upset…" she grimaced when she saw he wouldn't leave. "Why the hell are you so damn crabby anyways the past week? Snapping off at people; especially Dareth; you're lucky hediesn't take insults too hard," she snapped off, quiet enough to not wake her son. "I thought you were really starting to change for the better Ronin…"

He sat down on the bed she was sitting on. "It's… promise not to laugh now?" She raised an eyebrow. "Right…" he looked away. "Back in Stix…" he started pulling his gloves off. Misako then noticed his left arm was different. "Back when Jay had found me years back when he was still a kid… it was just after I got this…" he pointed to the fake limb as he started.

"So that's how you can throw so much stronger with that one…" Misako commented, folding her arms. "I had a feeling; you should have told me about it yourself though…" she snapped again. "So go on… what's you sob story on how you got it that's making you so cranky?" she sat back, waiting to hear the rest of this.

"Yea well; I had a… crime partner that ran that stupid pawn shop with me…" he tapped his foot. "And we had a falling out I guess just before Jay tagged along and I got this… It was my fault really we split, but that was why I was open to having Jay around as company; let's face it I think you'll agree I can't do anything on my own," he scratched his cheek. "Anyways I thought I was feeling better about it all; especially when I was at the monastery the past few years with you and the kids and when we got Jay back from Wu-"

"Okay enough with the long and over complicated storytelling Ronin, I get it… I knew this was coming for a while now." He stared. "Yea; don't think I didn't know about the incoming calls you tell me to ignore from your boyfriend; I heard the messages recently; I know you two were keeping your distance from each other after you got that injury because he blames himself for not protecting you and you got pissed because mister high and mighty thinks he doesn't need help with anything and you would rather just cut off the relationship like you've always done when you think you can't handle your own damn feelings… I think I know my own brother."

"And here I thought I was the one with the mind abilities…" the older sibling scoffed and looked away. "I really didn't want Lloyd to fail this Mimi… now everyone back home is in trouble…"

"You're afraid he's now one of those zombie things… because you never picked up the damn phone to talk to him in the past four years…"

Ronin put his glove back on with a scowl. "First off you weren't the only one who knew about the dark matter stuff; you forget I was a history buff too when we were kids… I knew Wu would be using it and this was the last thing I wanted to happen!" He opened his mouth again though. "And I swear if you start rubbing anything in my face about how I'm some kind softie; especially to the girls; I'm ditching out the moment we get back to Ninjago to find Archer and succumb to our impending doom together…"

"Oh boy you really are on edge if you're talking like that; you should have just answered… I don't get why people do that; Garmadon and I never pulled that stuff with each other if we accidentally managed to hurt the other," she rolled her eyes. "But listen; we're going to get back home and reverse anything that has been done to everyone in Ninjago…"

He continued to stare at the sleeping boy that was his nephew. "Do you honestly think that sis? He lost once… how do you know that going back and trying again will work? He's just a kid Mimi… you honestly believe your son is going to be our ultimate savior?"

"Yes; I do," she quietly nodded… before throwing a punch to his stomach which surprised him. "And for the love of Spinjitsu; make up with your boyfriend and stop making a fool of yourself to everyone like this! You'll say something you'll regret I'm sure of it." She snapped, but stopped. "You hate being protected because he's way taller than you isn't he?"

"Yes," he hung his head. "I hate getting the short genetics like you…" he mumbled.

"Hah, now who feels short?"

"I'm not short Misako I'm average!" He growled when his sister laughed. "I'm three inches taller than you woman!"

* * *

Tanaka, Neuro, Namiko, and Kasai all looked out over the whole of Ninjago City from the highest roof of the monastery; they remained untouched as of now, but they saw the portal open up and the city being terrorized by a huge army with a strange dragon like creature that had morphed into a beast and sprouted huge wings; taking watch over the city now, turning everything that moved gray and dull.

"This is insane," Neuro looked around, shaking his head. "I honestly can't believe this…" he looked away. He was a master of the mind; he could hear people screaming from even that far away, and he did not like it one bit. "Let us go inside and wait to receive word from the others… I cannot take being out here too long…"

Not too seconds later a white blur zipped through. "HOLY SHIT!" Griffin blurted out. "It is literally like hell down there! People are all crazy zombies things walking around all like _Uuuugh uugh_!" the hyperactive young man started talking and imitating a zombie. "It was freaking me out!"

"Nice to see you again too Griffin," Namiko calmly greeted him before the other boys could be rude in some manner. "How's your grandfather?"

"Dead, got killed in the action just hours ago, but I'm doing great," the speed master quickly said. "Thanks for asking though." He didn't seem too upset about it however; he was still going on and freaking out about their current matter. "This thing is trying to make us into zombies and then there is going to be no one left to stop that thing! I don't wanna die!"

"It's trying to turn the world into its image; darkness," Tanaka explained. "They were not zombies as in dead; but they are still under the mind control of this Overlord giving them the personality of zombies…" he sat down on the porch; running a hand through his hair and thinking this over. "Please tell me Griffin… have you heard word from my brother?"

The younger man clicked his teeth as if he was hesitant to bring the news he hoped wouldn't come up. "Birchwood was bombed first…" he folded his hands together. "Sorry dude; I think one of those things is your big bro… I heard that no one got away from that one; Ignacia is kind of okay because people heard about Birchwood and started moving out sooner…"

Tanaka looked truly troubled and upset now. Namiko sat beside him and hugged him tightly. "I'm so sorry Tana…" she whispered. "This will all turn out okay though… the others will return and then all will be well again; you'll see".

"I SAY WE FIGHT THAT THING OURSELVES INSTEAD OF WAITING FOR PEOPLE TO COME AND RESCUE US!" Kasai held up the sword of fire he took from the rack inside the weapon's room. "WE'RE ELEMENTAL MASTERS; NOT A BUNCH OF SISSIES!"

"Kas; get off the roof!" You're shouting so loud the Overlord will hear you and bomb us next up here!" Namiko hissed angrily at her over excitable husband.

"YEA! LET'S DO IT!" Griffin ran up and joined him as well.

"Griffin! Stop that! Namiko is right! Be quiet!" Tanaka jumped to his feet

"We're doomed…" Neuro sighed, holding a hand to his face.

* * *

Lloyd woke up, heart pounding, feeling like he was in some horrible danger still because that's what he last felt before he became unconscious. When he took in his surroundings though; he recognized that it was the ship and he breathed in relief that he was alive and the Overlord was not anywhere near them. He turned on his side; finding that his body was aching and head was spinning still.

"What even happened out there- wait…" he started to remember.

He was all alone; face to face with the devil himself. He knew it would be his job to end all of this; but he never realized just how hard it was to stand on your own like that until he realized he was on his own. Then he swore that he wasn't imagining it when the tiniest of what was left of what his uncle really was like begged to be killed. Lloyd hated that word more than ever.

"I don't wanna kill anybody though…" he whispered; squeezing his eyes shut again. "Why would he want me to kill him if there was a chance I could save him!?"

He flinched when motors started whirring again and everyone was called to the top deck for one more 'pep talk' that hadn't been so peppy the last few days; he decided to show up; which surprised everyone that he was out of bed now. His father stood there; leaning on his staff and looking like he didn't get any sleep for the past two days… which really; everyone was in the same boat, exhausted and kind of scared.

"Okay…" the graying man sighed, closing his eyes. "It has been ten hours since the Overlord has gotten away to the mainland… Jay and Nya have repaired the Bounty to the best of their capabilities and resources now; and there will be time later to properly fix it if we actually win this thing and remain alive until the very end…"

All eyes were on Lloyd now and he felt scared when his mother walked over and gave him the pendant on a new chain to wear for the battle. He shakily took it from her, knowing that this was the real thing now; there could be no turning back.

"We all are not alone… we are in this together, we all have people back home who are counting on us to come back and save them," Garmadon looked at the kids. "Whether we're on good terms with those people…" Nya, Pixal, and Seliel looked up. "Or bad terms…" Ronin looked away and Cole just folded his arms. "Or maybe we have no idea how they feel about us at all…" Jay looked like he was about ready to crack up and start crying and Julien seemed to pat his back. "We're fighting for others… and each other; because if there was one teaching I hoped would stick with you all… is that we are a family." He looked to Julien and Dareth. "Even the newcomers".

Lloyd hated seeing everyone look so bleak and quiet like this. "This is no way to let the heroes of Ninjago die before they even begin…" he looked up. "I'm sorry I locked up; the failure was my fault and no one else's… and I promise that I'll do what I was born to do… I didn't accept my job before on the beach… but I'm doing it now… I promise I'll come through for you all…"

"When did you become such a smart, brave little man?" Garmadon smiled a bit.

"I'll fire the ship up then and we can set sail for Ninjago City!" Dareth announced and went back up to the control room. Nya and Julien had taught him how to fly the Bounty in the past few hours so now he was very excited to do it all on his own without help.

Lloyd was about to go back down when his father stopped him. "Can I please talk to you?" he asked. The boy raised an eyebrow, unsure as to why. "I feel like I haven't… been able to do that for a while… just us…"

The two went back down into where the bunks were. "W-what is it?" the blonde asked his father as he plopped down on one of the bunks, not sure if this was going to be good or possibly bad.

"Sometimes…" the sensei started, "I feel like I never expressed how much I really love you Lloyd… how important you are to me," he started folding his hands together. "When… when I was there… at-at the monastery, the evening your mother had you… I was filled with such happiness hearing you cry for the first time…" he swallowed. "I felt like my life had no meaning whatsoever before that one moment. You know what I've done, I've told you… what happened to me and what I was forced to do; but when I learned that your mother was pregnant… it was like this… state of depression I was in was lifted off me… and it was the best feeling I had ever felt; to this day… and holding you for the first time… I knew that you were going to be very special…"

Lloyd looked at his father. They had talked, played, and trained plenty of times in his ten years growing up with his family; there was no doubt in his mind that his father loved him. There were plenty of times his father could have died from protecting him. He kept silent as it looked like he had more to say.

"A-and… I feel so horrible that I had to train you to do this; it's not fair… to send my only, precious son to fight a battle that I should have handle long ago before any of this could have happened…" Lloyd noticed his father looked like he was about to start crying when he looked back down at him. "That night you were born… I should have killed him when I had the chance; your uncle… I almost let you get killed as a baby because I thought I could trust my little brother wouldn't lash out again…"

"Dad…" Lloyd wiped his eyes, hugging the older man. "I love you too… kay? It's not your fault… I thought you said that destiny always has the road mapped out… we just have to fulfill it… I thought we couldn't stop it…"

Garmadon scooped the tiny boy in his arms and held onto him for dear life as he sat on his lap. "Promise me you'll come back alive Lloyd… If you win but don't come back to me my life will be devoid of meaning once more…" he quietly said. "You are that precious to me… I want to see you grow up… I want you to have a life that I couldn't have… I just want you to get through this and leave it behind to have a normal life for once in this family's history…"

"You'd still have mama and the girls if I didn't com-"

"You are my flesh and blood… my only baby… please don't start telling me that," he pulled away so his son could see eye to eye. "Your mother… there are so many things that you don't know about us that I need to tell you in a proper way that I just haven't found the time to say… but Lloyd; you don't get it; your mother and I were not supposed to be able to have a child after… a horrible miscarriage that happened during the war…" he swallowed, looking down again. "You are a miracle… that why you are so special to your mother and I… I can't just let you die now…"

He felt his son nod a little bit as he continued to hold onto him for dear life. "You can tell me all of the stories when I get back then you know…" he whispered.

"You are so indignant like your mother… you shouldn't be doing this…" he shook his head more and just held onto his son. "Please win".

"I will dad…"

_"__Ninjago city up ahead and… it's looking kind of scary down there… get ready for a fight guys!"_ Dareth announced over the intercom that sounded like it was giving feedback and kind of busted.

"Dad…" Lloyd looked up. "Can you please let go of me now?"

His father held on a moment longer and then released him. "Right…" This was the hardest thing he would ever have to do; watch his son go into a battle without him right there this time.

For years he sounded like the calm and wise sensei who always knew what to do and how to make everyone else feel better when they were down or scared. Maybe that's why it surprised Lloyd to see his father on the verge of a breakdown like this as he walked up the stairs to the deck again, taking in everything he was just told.

The older man lingered below deck for another minute; looking out the ships window at the black, cloud filled sky.

_"__Well… it looks like a good day to die if I ever saw one…"_

**Oh boy; some emotional prepping for when shit goes down in the next chapter where there will be even MORE emotional stuff haha! Final battle here we come everybody! **

**Also, Ronin is gay, deal with it. Also; as you will be seeing; I'm kind of subtly setting the stage for the sequel I'm planning... so heh, if you've been paying attention to most of the Final Battle/Dark Island chapters and these last ones I'll be posting this week I guess... haha, yea... but also; I greatly enjoyed writing in scenes with Kasai and Namiko and the other masters again... and you will see more of them in the next chapte :3**

**Anyways, the main reason why I want to attempt to upload the rest of this story this week; is because I'm prepping to go to The Amazing Tour is Not Fire by Dan and Phil at the end of the month as well as finish up Anime Expo stuff (last of the photo shoots I wanted to do, make up tests, buying more makeup and supplies ect) so I kind of want to get as much stuff out of the way and posted because conventions and tours wipe me the hell out and I probably won't be able to write or post for at least a few days after that. **

**I'm also going to try and fire up Black King again this week since that fic is also about halfway done... it's just a matter of writing 4k plus chapters and what not (and as you all know, that is a far more descriptive story than the most on here so it also takes a bit of revising when I'm not in the descriptive habit yet)**

**Okay so with that said, possibly tomorrow or Thursday will be chapter 53. I hope you all are very prepared for that; it's the last really long chapter I have, 54 and 55 are on the shorter side, like, 1k each, idk I'm trying to elaborate more and stuff but I can only put in so much. **

**Thank you guys so much for reading! I get so excited when I see reviews about everyone else getting excited for this! X3 I hope you guys have a great day! :) **

**~Mar**


	53. Chapter 53

"Okay so that huge fortress thing is where the Overlord is… and it looks like he wasted no time in building up his little machine so he could watch over the whole city like this…" Cole pointed down at the skyscraper like structure where the black dragon was seated on. "This is going to be one hell of a fight; I can already tell."

"Hey… the helmet… it's… I guess it must have fallen off…" Misako had noticed, but shook her head, not paying anymore mind to that detail, it wouldn't be all that important to destroying him or anything. "Well… let's go then- wait; do you hear loud screaming and laughing?" She perked up, noticing the very out of place sounds coming from below them.

"IS THAT MY PARENTS!?" Nya blurted out, looking over the side more to see multiple dragons flying around; dodging shots of dark matter from the Overlord dragon's mouth. There were a few figures that could be seen hopping around and every so often, on dragons and moving back from the ground to the sky; fire or water would appear to be shooting out the most from the figures.

"Look at all the dragons…" Lloyd whispered in awe as he peeked over the railing. "Way more than just the four that guarded the weapons…"

"That's because there are a lot of different kinds of dragons… not just four in all of existence you know; most belonged to elemental masters but were either set free or their masters died during the war; us and them go hand in hand," Skylar commented, looking at one of the orange dragons flying overhead with a bit of a sad smile.

"And uncle Tanaka and Neuro are down there too! I just saw ice!" Seliel recognized her uncle on the back of the ice dragon Shard. "I don't believe it… look; there are more elemental masters that must have survived and came into the city! We're not totally alone now!" She noticed Griffin and the shadow master down there. "I don't believe it… they're here to help us after all…"

"Well of course," Ronin scoffed. "These people were in a war once before you know! Why wouldn't we help the newcomers to the party? You kids could get creamed out there," he rolled his eye and gripped the railing of the ship while receiving some glares from the teenagers around him. "So kiddos… who's ready for a fight?" he looked to the kids who nodded back with determination.

"I bet I can kill more of those warriors then you!" Skylar snarked off to the older man.

"In my calculations, I believe I shall be the one to get the most kills," Pixal smirked, holding her hands behind her back, seeming confident in that statement.

"Well…" they all turned to see Lloyd who had stepped back to go put the medallion around his neck; looking older once again. "I'm finally ready to end this for good". The other six smiled back at him.

* * *

Griffin zipped around on the ground, throwing the Stone Warriors around like they were nothing to him, the best [art was that none of them could even catch him. "Heyo Invinzo! Where you at?" he looked around and saw an invisible force fling more warriors around. "Never mind! I _see_ ya buddy!" he laughed.

"Ugh; someone shut him up already!?" the dark master rolled his black eyes. "This is a war not some stupid sass off with these things! I came here to fight!" he flung more dark energy around. "These damn things won't stay down!"

"Relax Shade!" Namiko laughed, sliding around and bending the water to her will. "It doesn't matter as long as we somewhat deal with these things to keep them all occupied!" she spun around, ready to hit the next one to come her way, but froze, the water dropping to the ground when she saw what the next opponent would be stepping through the hoard of warriors. "Kai?" she breathed.

The other masters turned to see her son as, young Kai; who she had not seen in many years. Kasai dropped back down from Flame's back to see it was so as well. Their son was a possessed member of this army; and he would surely fight them more than ever now.

"Don't hurt him… just keep him at bay for now…" Kasai growled; golden sword he had taken from the monastery to help him igniting in angry flames. "If that green ninja won't kill Wu and the Overlord I might just do it myself for taking my boy away from me like this!" he shouted and the element and golden swords crossed.

* * *

Lloyd stood on the railing of the ship, taking in a deep breath, while the others watched, wondering what he was doing. "Good luck down there guys… I need to do this alone this time," he looked away. "Wish me luck…"

"Hey; what do you think you're you doing!?" Skylar shouted as the green ninja jumped from the railing onto the building top. "He's insane! LLOYD! YOU CAN'T JUST GO HEAD TO HEAD ALL ALONE!"

The ship rocked when the cannon fired again. "Dareth! Put the ship down and stay put inside here!" Misako snapped. "GARMADON!" she shouted. He quickly came to her side. "I'm joining the party!"

"LIKE HELL YOU ARE!" her husband freaked when he saw how high they were at now. "Yikes…" he backed away from the railing.

"Then jump with me! I think I see Kage down there with the dragons! She was yours; right?" Misako looked back with a smile. "Itchi!" she shouted to a green dragon that flew by, catching her old friend's attention.

"NO! ABSOULTELY NOT! DON'T YOU DARE!" the sensei snapped again, but she ignored him and grabbed onto the dragon all the same. "Mimi!" he waved his fist at his laughing wife who blew him a kiss.

"That looks like fun…" Jay breathed and then spotted the one from the ruins that he had met. "HEY! REMEMBER ME?!" he shouted. "WISP! RIGHT?!" The blue dragon raised her head and flew by as well, allowing the lightning master to get on; taking Nya with him as well.

Garmadon was not having it though and grew angry when the other kids jumped onto other dragons to help distract the Overlord to help Lloyd buy time. The sensei rolled his eyes when the huge purple and black dragon swooped in and beckoned him to join as well. "Fine! But I won't enjoy it!" he looked back to Julien and Dareth. "Stay safe you two! Those warriors are everywhere! Kage, come on!"

"Same to you!" the white haired inventor shouted after him as well. "Come on Dareth and Ronin! We got our orders… land the ship and stay p-"

"Ah; no; I'm getting off this thing and fighting myself! Not hanging around with you two; later!" Ronin jumped off when the ship was closer to the ground.

* * *

Lloyd groaned a bit when his body hit the building top; still weak from last fight. "Ugh… okay… really bad option to do right now…" he clutched his shoulder as he stood up again. He knew he was right in front of the Overlord who was looking down on him though. For some reason though; he didn't feel scared of it anymore. "I'm not going to let you beat me up so quickly this time…"

The dragon laughed with a rumbling voice. "You're just some dumb little boy who needs a bunch of pathetic girls to protect him!"

"They aren't pathetic! They're the best! They're crushing your stone warriors to dust right now all by themselves!" the green ninja snapped back, feeling defensive over his sisters.

"HELL YEA WE ARE!"

"SKYLAR ! PAY ATTENTION DAMNIT!"

"SORRY SENSEI!"

The blonde sighed, slowly blinking for a moment when he shook his head. "I know what I have to do now! I'm going to finish what my grandfather had started all those years ago!" he pointed. "And that would be to end you once and for all!" he balled his hands up into fists.

The dragon laughed again and turned, swatting Lloyd with his tail like he was nothing more than a pesky fly. The boy went flying across the top of the fortress, almost toppling over the edge when he landed face first, bloody nose reappearing. "You don't get it do you? In the end; there is nothing but darkness; you can never truly beat it! It is always there! Ready to swallow you up! When you die; you'll see there is nothing but shadow!" The monster opened his huge mouth and Lloyd plunged into darkness.

* * *

"LLOYD?!" Nya's eyes widened when she caught happened as Jay let her down on the ground to help the other masters with the warriors in the city square.

"Nya!"

"Mom!" the girl then turned to see the older woman running to hug her.

"Your father is fighting you brother… this is so hopeless… isn't it?" Namiko looked up so she could see what her daughter was looking at. "He'll be okay Nya… believe in him… evil can't win forever… you know Lloyd will pull through."

Everyone was on the ground now while the dragons kept circling and roaring, trying to blast small pockets of the stone army. Misako was in her place where she had just stabbed one of them, covering her mouth while Garmadon pulled her into his arms to help pull her attention away from the horrible sight they all just witnessed. "My baby… my…" she started crying.

"We can't… just stop now though… even if it's true," Pixal gripped her sword tighter. They were being surrounded and trapped in the square though; their time was just about up now it seemed. "We have to keep fighting… for Lloyd if he truly is gone now". She slowly started lowering her weapon though as she thought about it more.

Jay was pulled into a hug with Namiko and Nya. Kasai was shoved into the ring by his possessed son to join the family. Seliel and Cole were by Tanaka and Neuro and everyone was grouping into the small circle that kept getting tighter and tighter as the army marched in towards them; weapons at ready to be fired and their lives to be over now.

* * *

Dareth had stumbled out of the Bounty when it all started to happen, confused and disoriented by all of the shouting that was going on in the city. The area they were set the ship down in was almost desolate now so he felt he was safe. "Hey! This is cool!" he picked a helmet when he noticed the lonely object in the middle of the deserted street. "Plus it'll keep my ol noggin safe I bet!" he dropped it on his head.

* * *

The ninja and other elemental masters closed their eyes; ready for the end; at least they would all die together…

But they were never fired upon; the order was never even given for it.

The general, Kozu, stood upright and raised his sword up over his head as if to signal the strike. "ALL HAIL DARETH; THE BROWN NINJA!" The other warriors shouted in agreement, stomping their feet.

"Wait… what?" Cole looked around, not sure what was happening now.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Ronin wiped his face when they all saw Dareth come walking through with the Helmet of Darkness on his head and the soldiers at his beck and call now; basically worshipping him.

The brunette man laughed, "Well! Look who's so important now! I just saved all of your lives! Again!" he folded his arms and smirked at Ronin. "Who's the useless one now?"

"Why you little!" Ronin rolled his sleeve and growled but Neuro grabbed him by the back of his tunic to stay him.

"Hey look; we're all not dead!" Skylar interrupted. "Guess that means… Lloyd's the only one that needs all the help he can get now… them too…" she looked back to Misako who was still crying, Garmadon did his best to hold it all in though. "This really is a dark day I guess."

* * *

Lloyd opened his eyes; he was in a void of blackness, nothing around him. The boy looked at his hands and then back around, still feeling his body. "I'm dead?" He started pinching himself.

"Not yet you are… but if we don't hurry you will be gone forever."

Lloyd flinched and turned around, trying to find the source of the voice. "Wait… that's…"

"Me…" Lloyd turned to see a man slightly taller than him, feet away. "I was supposed to be the master of light you know… instead I turned to the shadows when the jealously took hold…"

"Uncle Wu…" Lloyd breathed.

"I know we never really met… but you must feel like you know me very well…" the other blonde nodded. "Boy the stories my brother must have been able to tell you…" he sadly chuckled. "I bet they were pretty gritty… especially when he must have recounted that time I tried to off you the moment I saw you and knew you would be my enemy…"

"What is this place if I'm not dead?" the green ninja asked, interrupting.

"This is how I feel right now; nothingness. And I'm serious; if you don't hurry; your light will fade away for good and you will die for sure this time…" Wu folded his hands into his robe's sleeves. "Are you prepared to do what needs to be done young one?"

"I… there will be a way to get you back like this in the real world; separated from the Overlord again… I-I just…" Lloyd tried to think of something, he sure wished his father was here, or the others; they could help him come up with an idea for sure.

"Lloyd; the Overlord's soul is bonded to mine; what you are looking at is the last shred of humanity I had left in me that became separated in here… my last scrap of whatever soul is still called my own… you kill me right here and now; you can extinguish the Overlord's form and end him with that brilliant light you were born with…" Wu stared down at Lloyd who was still reluctant to do this now. "All you need to do is unlock the golden powers of my father; your grandfather... and just like that I will be gone; and so will your greatest enemy forever nephew".

"Why me though?" the boy started sniffling. "Why did I have to be the one to do this!? I'm just a kid!" He wiped his eyes.

"Because; the man and woman who conceived you and raised you were full of such light and love for one another and the people that surrounded them, that you were to be; a miracle. All that strength makes up your whole being; you are not some reincarnation of the First Spinjitsu Master like what most will say about you… You are your own person; made up of such love and strength that it cannot be measured; you are so loved that you exist purely out of it; and that was what made you so special and such a threat to me from the beginning of your life… you are a child; yes… but aren't children the most innocent and determined?"

Lloyd had just now realized that he was back to his old form; the medallion was gone from his person and he was in his ten year old body. "But how can I do anything without that pendant? I'm not big enough to use my powers now," he looked back to his uncle.

Wu chuckled, "You don't need some fancy heirloom to give you your strength; you are Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon… and you are enough just as that."

The nephew looked to his uncle who stood; ready to die now to end all of this, arms out and ready to take the hit that would end him. "Promise me that you'll be good up there for grandpa?" he asked.

"Promise… you just need to promise that you come back alive to your mother and father; they need you very much…"

"Promise…" Lloyd nodded once.

The green ninja looked back down and concentrated with all of his being, taking in a breath. Instead of the green energy ball he could make appear normally; it had turned gold now and his green and black ninja robes he wore became laced with the same color, even golden kanjis appeared across it.

"Tell Kai that I was wrong… that he needs to apologize and come back to his family. Tell them all that I knew I was wrong in the end of all things…" Wu smiled a bit. "And this time… you shouldn't miss".

Lloyd closed his eyes and took the shot.

And he _didn't_ miss this time.

**Yoooo, did you see that one coming? Eh, you probably might have since what happened in the other chapter with Wu... look, the one and only time you hear anything remotely wise and helpful from this bastard in this whole series lol**

**Welp, two short chapters left. Well, 55 is really just an epilogue... which I still need to finish... **

**But, yea guys... that was it... that was big lead up heroic fight I promised everybody lol... Like I said; I felt the story would have more impact if Lloyd remained a child... I mean, I'm okay that he was aged up on the show because of the whole 'don't waste your childhood' message they were going for... but how much more impacting would it have been if we saw 10-12 year old Lloyd stand on his own and win? Another reason I ditched even the medallion in the moment of truth. **

**Okiedoke guys, that concludes this update! So turn on your alerts because who know when I'm going to surprise you guys with chapters 54 and 55 haha Thanks for reading as always and have a lovely day! **

**~Mar**

**P.S. I almost forgot; to the anon; you are most welcome, on top of this, if you want the whole rundown, Nya, Skylar, Seliel, Dareth and Clouse are bi (or at least biromantic), Ronin is gay, Garmadon and Cole are demi, Tanaka and Pixal are straight up ace/aro ;)**


	54. Chapter 54

"Guys; look! Something's happening with the Overlord dragon I think!" Jay pointed to the dragon on top of the skyscraper; through its thick, black scales; cracks of light started to shine through while the beast started roaring in pain. "That so has to be Lloyd up there doing that to him! He's not dead!"

The sensei and his wife pulled away at the mention of their boy's name, watching this happen as well. "Please Lloyd… you can do it… come on… you promised me you'd come back…"

The golden cracks got bigger and bigger in the dragon until there was a huge, golden explosion that blinded everybody for miles around; possibly the whole of Ninjago saw the beaming light from every corner of the continent.

There was nothing but warm, white light for who knew how long; though it was long enough that everyone blacked out and didn't know how long it was until they all woke up. The sky was clear without a cloud in it; the people around them were all restored to normal; expect for the huge gaping hole in the ground; the city looked rather normal again.

* * *

"Ugh… my head…" Seliel kept her amber eyes shut for another moment until she felt something was on top of her. "What the-?" she opened her eyes to see that Cole was the one on top of her. "Get off of me dirt clod!" She shouted and shoved the bigger teenager off of her forcibly.

"OUCH!" Cole woke up now, but looked at Seliel. "You're alive…"

"So are you… I guess… not that I cared if you got killed out there…" she looked away; arms folded, but glancing at him, slowly starting to smile before they wrapped their arms around one another as tightly as they could. "Guess I'm stuck going on that date with you then…"

"Oh what a shame…" the earth master chuckled more. "Just promise you won't clean my wallet out Pinkie…"

"You are so going to hate me then…" she laughed; eyes watering as she buried her face in his chest. "I'm happy you're alive…" she breathed, closing her eyes.

* * *

Jay's first sight was the clear sky; then he heard soft footsteps and saw a hand lowered for him to take. "Nya…" he breathed tiredly, slowly blinking again. "Is it over?" he asked when he saw her face again. She slowly nodded. "N-no sign of Wu anywhere?" he swallowed, nervous in the back of his mind that this was some kind of false sense of security. She silently shook her head. "Oh my gosh…" he sounded so relieved. "So it's really done."

"I know," she laughed a bit as she pulled him up and into a tight hug. "You don't have to ever worry about him trying to hurt you again… because we won," she kissed his cheek. "You fought good today blue boy," she smiled more at the red head who blushed a bit. "Really Jay… after everything? You really pulled through… I mean it, I'm proud of you just as much as I am of Lloyd," she frowned. "To be honest Pixal… said that she thought you would be afraid to use your lightning powers after… ya know…" she bit her lip.

The lightning ninja gave another nervous chuckled, "Heh… yea…" he nodded. "I can see why…" he scratched his head, feeling tired still, the first thing he would do is take a long, well earned nap. "To be honest… I'm ready to just retire for a long time," he squeezed her tighter. "Hey… Nya?" he asked.

"Yes Jay?"

"I know we're still kind of young… but… wanna…" he nervously laughed more. "Geez… you just helped me out so much and you always tried to help me…" he grabbed her hands. "I honestly just wanna be with you forever…" he swallowed hard. "I know you probably have plans since our job is all done here… you'll wanna go back home… I do to; to make up with my parents, but… I just want to know we'll still be together."

"Yea…" she nodded. "I wanna be with you too…" she felt her eyes start to water up. "We don't have to go our separate ways you know… It's true I want to become a blacksmith and all that; but I'd much rather do it with you there with me."

Jay blushed even more at her words and picked her up, hugging her tightly once more. "I love you so much Nya, you're the sweetest, best girlfriend ever". The black haired girl laughed and giggled more as he kissed her cheeks several times.

The young couple stopped though when they heard a tired groan and saw who was feet away. "Kai…" the water ninja breathed, feeling a tightness in her chest again as she started to remember everything that went down between them for the last ten years. "Hey… can you put me down Jay?" she quietly asked and the lightning did so.

Kai slowly opened his eyes to find his sister was over him; very pissed off and not happy in the slightest with him. "Nya?- AH!" he was punched square in the face and then kicked in the side so that he rolled over and huddled into a ball. "Yea… that's you alright… damnit… I guess I deserved that…" He then noticed Jay was behind her and realized that was for him probably.

"What!? You were expecting a hug from us!?" she started crying. "After everything you dared to put me and the others through!? What you helped Wu do to Jay!?" she was pulled away by Skylar who she then hugged her with Jay. "You have no right to even say my name after all of this!"

"He's not worth your time Nya…" Skylar told her with a deep frown. "Just forget it… he's going to be jailed for as long as he needs to be… you don't have to forgive if you don't want to…"

"Y-yea Nya, it's okay," Jay quietly told her.

"No it's not! You're still hurt by it!" she sniffled.

Kai was still looking around dazed at everything going on. "Wait… THAT DUMBASS OVERLORD TRICKED ME!" he remembered the last thing before the dark matter treatment he and Zane received. Speaking of which… where was he?

* * *

Ronin and Julien helped to pull Zane aside. "I'm going to shut him down for now until I can properly fix him…" he commented, swallowing hard and looking up. "I hope that boy is okay though…" he looked to see Garmadon sitting with his hands to his face like he knew his son was gone. Misako was there next to him. "Poor things… I know how it feels… I hope Lloyd turns up… alive…"

"Maybe there was someplace we haven't looked yet… He's still probably out cold, we all were…" Misako kneeled down next to her husband. "Please Garmadon… he has to be alive still… you can't just look around for five minutes and give up on him like this…" she started crying as well. "He's our little boy damnit!" she felt him hug her once more, not saying anything to her as he just let her cry her eyes out.

"Just… I looked everywhere he could be Mimi," he told her. "I don't know where he is… same with Wu… I didn't see the bodies anywhere."

* * *

Lloyd opened his emerald eyes, gasping for air in the dusty hole he was in, just a little bit of light shining through the opening, right in his eyes. The ten year old registered that he was in the ruins of the battle. Not far away he saw his medallion glint in the faint light and stiffly sat up to retrieve it, noticing it was kind of cracked up now, probably useless and not able to help him any longer.

After he bent over to pick it up; he came face to face with some strange smoke like ghost that made him jump out of his skin.

_"__Thank you Lloyd…"_ And it vanished before his eyes.

That wasn't some dream; he really met his uncle and learned how he was actually meant to be and through that discovered himself and what he was truly capable of. He turned away and held the cracked pendant to his chest before pocketing it and doing his best to climb out of the pit he was in but he was still weak, back hurting as he pulled himself up onto a boulder.

"HELP!" he finally shouted for someone to grab his arm and pull him out the rest of the way. "HEY! SOMEONE GET ME OUT OF HERE!" he shouted at the top of his lungs; hoping someone was nearby.

"Son!?"

"DAD!"

"LLOYD!"

"MOMMA!" Lloyd started crying with a smile when he heard the relieved voices come from about; it sounded like everyone was safe and alive; and he saw it was true when he was on his feet on stable ground once more. "You're all okay…" he started crying even more with his parents who were squeezing the life out of him.

"See? We told you; he would be just fine; there was no need to ever doubt that he would not be," Pixal offered a smile before the little ninja could hug her with all his strength as well. "I am most proud of you little ninja," she laughed, kissing his forehead.

"How did you do it!?" they all kept asking him things like what it was like to face Wu or to suddenly have all the power in the world to implode the dragon that swallowed him whole.

The little blonde shook his head as he slowly started walking once being released by the others, looking down at his feet. "You are so never going to believe this one even if I told you…" he looked up with a little smile.

"Try us greenie," Skylar folded her arms.

"Well… for starters… I think I finally found myself in there…" the boy pulled out the pendant, seeing his dirty reflection look back at him before he took in a breath and started to retell his story of the Final Battle.

**One more to go haha... oh man, I don't have much to say, in a little bit I'll update with the final 'epilogue' kind of thing I'm finishing up. I decided to post the last two today because they're pretty short compared to other chapters. **

**I hope you found this as a worthy way to end the Final Battle haha Thanks for reading and look out for the final chapter in a little bit! **

**~Mar**


	55. Chapter 55

One year was a long time; but it wasn't too long because everything was being restored as it once should have and things finally started to turn and feel like they were back to normal again. Lloyd was sitting on the floor, a small stone in hand as he was trying to chisel something into it as he sat alone in the living room of the monastery he called home.

The doors opened wide as his father walked in from getting the mail for the day. "Oh, look; here's the invitation to your brother's wedding next month… took him long enough to get one to us! And why did it have to be all the way in Stix?! That's over two hours away by car!"

He slid the envelope to his wife who took and opened it was a smile. "That's because he spent most of his life there and actually _lives_ there?" She pointed out "I just hope those two end up really happy with each other… looks like my brother in-law will be a good guy for my brother," she looked up with a smile.

"Yea well; they're both thugs so whatever… they are perfect for each other," Garmadon rolled his eyes and looked down at his son who seemed so focused. "Hey kiddo; get out of your pajamas and get some clothes on already; everyone's coming over soon you know."

"Right; sorry dad! I'll be right out! I was just trying to finish this thing I was doing." The now eleven year old stood up and ran into his room.

"Oh; another postcard from Skylar…" Garmadon flipped through the mail. "She says that she'll be coming home soon and to get her room all fixed up for her." He looked at the front again, "Sakura Falls, nice," he showed his wife. "That kid's been everywhere now I bet."

"Like she even has to remind me to fix her room up; it's always there every time she comes back! Which reminds me that we have to finish the renovations to… well… Wu's old room…" Misako turned the oven off, still thinking about the Final Battle a whole year ago today. "Hard to believe they were all just a bunch of little kids at one point," she wiped her eyes, starting to feel emotional over it all. "They've all grown up so much and so well… anything else from the others or is that it?"

"Um; letter from Pixal; she says that she and Cyrus are really doing well with the company and that they've been developing new plans for Ninjago City, said that Pixal's creation day's coming up and that they're planning a party," the sensei read over the paper. "Nice to see that she wasn't really repurposed and that she's not some assistant… that would be the biggest waste of such a smart girl."

"Oh; almost forgot; Julien and Zane want to have us over sometime when Skylar gets back home; think we can make it? Tanaka is going to be there as well I believe."

"Yep, I think we can… I'll ask Sel and Cole later about it; they'll be there I think," he looked back at the postcard. "Yea; Sky'll be back before then; we're good to confirm."

The door slid open right after he finished going through the other envelopes and Misako pushed past her husband to be the first to hug everyone who was coming over, throwing her oven mitts aside. "You're all early!" she playfully scolded the girls. "Oh Seliel; look at you…" she looked at the pink haired girl who laughed a bit. "So; boy or girl?" she raised an eyebrow.

"A healthy little boy…" Seliel held a hand to her swollen stomach, though Cole and her smirked when they glanced at one another, "And his sister's doing good too, they should be perfectly fine," she loved the look of pride and excitement Misako had on her face, as if she was the grandmother or something… well… if you asked Seliel; she would say that Misako really was like a mother to her. "Only a couple more months now and they'll be here with us".

"Oh good for you two," the green eyed woman nodded. "You must be so excited!"

"Yea; my dad was shocked when he found out about the twins to be honest… since… I waited forever to finally try to get back in touch," Cole chuckled. "Nearly flipped his lid; but we're fixing up that relationship… hopefully," he hugged his girlfriend close. The two were currently in Birchwood with Seliel's father, Crevan, though they were looking into moving to Ninjago City soon just to be closer to everyone else.

Nya was the next to receive the hugs and a big congratulatory welcome being she was officially a blacksmith and had come from a small ceremony that was held by her father's master who deemed her excellent in the craft at the age of seventeen. Jay couldn't be more proud of her though.

"The prettiest blacksmith I've ever seen," Garmadon commented as he picked her up in a hug. "I missed you a lot Nya". He chuckled when she kissed his cheek. "Lloyd _really_ missed you though, I can't wait till he gets out here," he set her back down.

"Here," she pulled out a sheathed sword though. "As a way to say thank you for caring for me all these years, I really appreciated it," she smiled a bit. "It was the first one I made for the ceremony… I wanted you guys to have it," the brown eyed girl smiled up at her sensei.

"And I'll keep it on display right out here for everyone who comes over to see," he put it on an empty wall rack and turned to look down the hallway. "Lloyd! Everyone's here already!" He called for his son. "Move it!"

"Here!" Lloyd came out and stood at attention, but quickly broke into a run when he saw Seliel and Nya there. "Guys!"

"Oh, we see you guys all the time you know," Seliel laughed as she and Nya helped pick him up together. "Careful, careful; not too tight now," she laughed, holding one hand across her stomach again as he hugged her and Nya.

"I still miss having you guys living here though!" the blonde pouted angrily, everyone started moving out from a few weeks to a few months after everything was over and they all got situated with their lives. "Sky lives here but she's never even home…"

The other laughed though. "Greenie; I highly doubt you want us around here now; you wouldn't like a pair of screaming twins on the way that'll be waking you up all the time," Cole ruffled the kid's hair. "But hey; you know we're moving closer."

Jay hugged Lloyd next. "Us on the other hand… Nya's all done with training and testing so we'll be sticking around again; think you can help us run a shop?" he winked which made Lloyd even happier to hear.

"How's Kai?" he dared to ask next. He didn't really like the fire ninja, but he still felt kind of bad he was mislead for all those years

The black haired girl folded her arms and shrugged. "He's fine… if he's good he'll get out in another two years or something… maybe one and parole… they're too light on someone who helped stage a nationwide takeover if you ask me".

"Good thing they aren't asking you then…" Misako came by with a cake, poking her cheek. "If I dare see anyone eating before I finish frosting it; you're all getting punished!" she snapped, making the others laugh. "I'm looking at you Cole," she eyed the earth ninja. "Rose used to eat all my cakes when I would bake and I know her son will do the same!"

Lloyd straightened up and ran back to his room. "I almost forgot! I wanted to put this between grandpa Masuta and grandma Delilah's graves!" the boy remembered and came barreling through with his rock in hand, leaving everyone confused as to what it could be.

"Here you go uncle Wu…" he set the rock down between the headstones of the other two. "I hope you're a lot happier now where you are," he looked up at the sky with a smile. He felt kind of bad that there would be no physical grave for him.

After he ran back inside to be with his family, his parents had slipped outside to see what he had done while the other four told Lloyd about everything going on. "Uncle Wu…" Garmadon read the cruddly scratched up rock. "He believed in me when I almost gave up…" He smiled just a bit and looked to his wife, handing it to her to see. "That kid is something else alright… how did we get such a perfect son? My brother tried to kill him and he still forgave him…" he shook his head.

Misako smiled and set the rock back down for her husband. "I don't know how we could have had him in the first place…" she held his hands. "I really don't have an answer for that one…"

The two went back inside to finish setting up for lunch and to get caught up with everything going on with the students that were over; also excited to finally have a normal(ish) life with their extended family.

Finally all was happy and good…

**Mmhm, yep, that's ending. That's how it all ends... Garmadon, Misako, and Lloyd live up on the monastery, Skylar travels the world but always returns to the monastery, Nya's a blacksmith and is engaged to Jay, going to set up a shop of their own soon, Seliel and Cole are together and trying to be parents now, Pixal and Cyrus work together as more like a father and daughter team, Zane and Julien live together in Birchwood with Seliel's dad and uncle, Ronin's so getting married... and Kai's in jail lol**

**Just saying, whenever I get the time to start on writing the plot for the sequel, all I shall say is that it will take place a month after this ending. And just saying, there will most likely not be a third, so I don't want to get your hopes up too much with that lol. The Tournament is having several sequels, and Simple things has a million and one holiday specials and 1 planned sequel, and I don't want to start making EVERYTHING have a bunch of sequels now XD**

**Honestly though, this is my most favorited story on here and I had no idea it would become so big like this. You guys are all really sweet and I couldn't ask for a better group of people to read this. So really; thank you for coming on this adventure, I honestly hoped that you liked it and were satisfied with the end results.**

**Well... this is the last entry I guess... I'll see you guys around in another story! For now, I'll be trying to finish writing Black King and Back to the Beginning; so I hope you check those stories out and like them as well :) Thank you so much again guys! Later!**

**~Mar**


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